Malware Warning: Ad Served Thru IZEA Media is the Culprit

If you are dealing with this RED BOX right now, you should be alarmed. Don't panic! The first thing that you should do is find the source. Did you install a new code in your blog? Did you accept comments containing malicious links? Did you add a link into your bloglist? Rewind your activities for the last 24 hours. That's what I did!

Last Friday 9-21-2012 3 AM, I spent hours figuring it out. In my case, I deleted all the links in my bloglist; delete all the ads; change theme and told all my friends to delete my link on their blogs for they too will get a warning sign soon if they keep my link. That's terrible for me huh? When I did all these, the RED BOX of Shame is still showing and it was getting worst.

Early morning, I tried asking few people for their services and I was willing to pay them. No answer! It seemed that I have to deal it on my own. I was frustrated. I am not even a computer savvy!

Finally at 5:10 PM, I saw the announcement by IZEA and came to realized that an ad served thru IZEA Media is the culprit. I felt bad because I spent hours deleting important links and they didn't do anything to inform their publishers.

It was just an announcement! Publishers are looking for answers on what to do next to eradicate the red box sign. If you read the timeline, most of us came there to inform them and hoping IZEA will give a hint on what steps to counter the problem. No Sir!

I was thankful that some publishers are sharing inputs on what initial steps to do. I followed their advice. When I checked on my Webmasters-Tools, there's 5 URL's showing a malware warning. I can't believe it! What else should I delete?

I keep coming back to the site for more update. After doing all these steps, I went back on the thread looking for some more input on what to do.

Carri said about Webmasters Tools at 7:32 PM.

I was so thankful for the input provided by Victor Salazar and Beeb Ashcroft. They are the ones who really answered the questions on my mind. The problem became worst that night. When I Google search my blog, there goes the sign: This site may harm your computer! I was hopeless. I spent the whole night trying to figure out. I sleep at 7 AM on Saturday 9-22-2012.

I woke up at 1PM that day and the first thing I did was check my blog. It was a nightmare! My blog was blacklisted! I was frustrated and I made a comment on the thread again at about 4:47PM.

The article written by Victor saves my day! At 6:44, the elusive REQUEST to REVIEW button showed up, filled out and submitted. The Waiting Game has begun. Bloggers are the ones helping one another and I shared the steps that I did. At 8:35PM, Carrie summarized all the inputs provided by the bloggers specifically by the post written by Victor Salazar.

At 11:48 PM, Google must have reviewed my blog. The 5 URL's flagged by Google were gone with the message: GOOGLE HAS NOT DETECTED ANY MALWARE ON THIS SITE. That was a big relief!

Sept 23, 2012 at 1:23 AM, GOOGLE finally CLEARED my site and the RED WARNING OF SHAME is gone for good. Whewww... What an ordeal don't you think?