As all over the internet, the users of MySpace are subject to exploits, adware and viruses.

SocketShield is an exploit prevention program that helps people to stay clean or to warn them if they want to make a mistake.

As MySpace is the most visited website in US this time of the year thanks to the fact that the people are now on holidays, they are risking to be infected by exploits and such.

An infected ad for a company named DeckOutYourDeck.com has been found by security researchers to be running on several popular networking and file-sharing sites, ideal trolling grounds for the often-innocent “lure” sites used by exploit distribution networks to acquire new victims. The DeckOutYourDeck.com site itself is clean; only the ad was being used as an infection vector.

The exploit takes advantage of a Windows Metafile vulnerability that was first identified in December of last year. According to the exploit’s originating distribution server in Russia, the ad’s silent payload of adware has been deposited onto more than a million computers.

“Microsoft issued a patch for this exploit in early January, but clearly there are many unpatched machines out there,” said Roger Thompson, CTO of Exploit Prevention Labs. “This level of infection from a relatively old exploit shows how important it is for users to protect their systems. It’s one of the key reasons we developed SocketShield — to provide an effective, proactive defense against drive-by downloads and other exploit-driven infections until users get around to patching.”

What is the difference between viruses and exploits?

Exploits are malware applications that take advantage of security vulnerabilities in common software such as Windows operating systems and browsers. Unlike traditional malware, such as viruses or trojans that are usually created by thrill-seeking individuals trying to cause chaos, exploits are part of a growing category of malicious and frequently for-profit applications used by international criminal cyber gangs.

Most exploit infections occur by what’s known as a drive-by download, in which malicious code is force-downloaded onto a user’s computer without their knowledge. This occurs the moment the user visits a compromised web site, which may well appear completely innocuous. The payload, usually in the form of a rootkit, then exposes the user to damage from spyware, keyloggers, and other crimeware.

Many Internet users mistakenly believe that as long as they’re not visiting pornographic or illegal file sharing sites, they’re safe from exploits. The truth, however, is that the most popular sites on the web are being actively exploited by cybercriminals simply because they are popular, not because of their content.

When a surfer visits one of the sites, malicious code placed on the site silently connects to an exploit server operated by the criminals and attempts to deliver the drive-by download onto the user’s machine. If the user’s operating system or browser is unpatched for the latest vulnerabilities, their machine is infected.

So if you think you risk to be infected by exploits, you can find a trial version of SocketShield on this website.