File downloaded without my permission?

Input via MALWR.com

The .swf are Macromedia Flash that are apparently for entry via Internet Explorer. It installs itself for autorun on Microsoft Windows.

For more details on the analysis please see:

https://malwr.com/analysis/YzI1YzU1YTAxN2UzNGM2ZmE3ZmNjNmE2MjVmNWE1NjI/

AdBlock is always enabled in my Safari extensions. However I paused it in order to use a subscriber feature on wsj.com. Three sugr.swf file unexplecdly downloaded within a couple of minutes. I trashed and deleted them until it occurred to me the files arrived after I paused AdBlock.

I am happy to report these files stopped downloading after Unpausing AdBlock. However I am very disappointed this happened on wsj.com.

I have also had this issue beginning on September 3rd 2015. Only, for me, the problem started out with about 60-70 of them in the course of an hour clicking around online to eventually a point where one page would sometimes generate over a dozen of those files. I've deleted several hundred of them today alone.

Actually, I've been having this issue for the past four days using Firefox. All instances have been while visiting The Guardian website (theguardian.com/us). There's no particular page that's triggered it and I don't get it every visit, so the idea that it's a defective ad makes sense. It's not a problem for me because I don't let anything download automatically without checking first, so when the window pops up to ask about downloading I just cancel. Still, I would hope they'll fix/get rid of the ad soon as it's annoying.

Just got this 3 times from Mashable.com front page. Simply went into my Downloads folder.

(Running clean install of OS Yosemite and Safari 8.)

I had the same happen on wowhead.com (World of Warcraft reference site). I've submitted it to their feedback forum along with a specific page reference. Definitely looks like flash. I'm trying to avoid flash anyway given the general trends on major sites.

This has started happening to me this morning. I was on thesaurus.com and noticed every time I typed in a word, a file downloaded. Did anyone figure out a fix to stop it from happening?

AdBlock has stopped unprompted sugar.swf files from downloading while using Safari on my MBP.

To avoid the auto-downloads you can use Private Browsing. Open a new Private Window before visiting ad intensive sites. Also, limit your Preferences to block all cookies.

I love the weather map on http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/. However, it recently became ad intensive. Just visiting the map site without logging in resulted in another 40 cookies, as well as auto download of the sugr.swf file. Now I open a new Private Window before accessing the site. That still allows me to log in each visit without the resulting annoyances.

I would say use Private Browsing for all sites, but who wants to log in every time they revisit a site?

I use private browsing almost all the time and block cookies, except for when I absolutely have to allow them. My auto-downloads from theguardian.com all occurred in private browsing and with cookies blocked. I suspect results may vary with browser (mine's Firefox) and OS (mine's 10.6.8). I did contact The Guardian about the issue and received the following reply: 'Thank you for letting us know. We've identified the cause and blocked the advert that was causing the issue.' I've asked them to let me know which ad it was, but am not too optimistic of hearing anything more. I hope they notified the people who produced the ad, but not too optimistic about that either. Since I got that response, I haven't had any more auto-downloads, but there were other days when I didn't have the problem either. If I do hear more about the ad in question I'll pass it on.

Well, I did hear from the Guardian. They said, 'The ad that was causing the problem was linked to the advertiser 'McCormick'.' Doesn't mean anything to me, but perhaps this is of some help to someone.

Same thing happening to me.

This happened to me as well and I found this answer helpful.

https://forums.developer.apple.com/thread/16673