Not covid but there'* a tracking code that gets tagged to links. I inserted a link in a post and checked the link and it'* been hacked.
Need to run a scan of the system.
BTW I removed the link.

What happened to the link?

Did it turn into a viglink.com or sovrn.com link?

It bounced to two or three domains before my tool picked it up.

See if this applies

https://www.sovrn.com/legal/privacy-center/

I put in a clean link and your system adds a tracker to it. That'* what applies.

Mkay, I wonder if you have something else going on then.

What are you using for AV? Adblocker? Firewall?

I'd like to see a copy of the link, even from a screengrab would be fine. IB sometimes or often adds stuff, but they don't publicize it to any of us.

Let'* try this.
Watch the address bar. Should only go to alldata
https://www.alldata.com/diy-us/en

Browser now is giving this
Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead

Firefox detected a potential security threat and did not continue to alldata.com. If you visit this site, attackers could try to steal information like your passwords, emails, or credit card details.

What can you do about it?

The issue is most likely with the website, and there is nothing you can do to resolve it. You can notify the website’* administrator about the problem.

Learn more…

The thing is Alldata is not the problem. Look at the address bar these are tracking sites.

Yeah, this is Viglink/Sovrn at work. Here'* the links I found behind your Alldata link:


The top one is the original destination behind your link. Then it hands off to the other three in order. This probably changes over time, but this is what it did to me today.

After like ten attempts I got through to the exact path that you originally attempted, including the diy-us/en .

This does not appear to be a virus. This is just Internet Brands doing their thing, just doing it poorly right now. I'm not saying that I like it etc., just saying what it is. This is part of the cost of a free forum.

To opt out, go to: https://www.sovrn.com/legal/privacy-center/

Choose the [Disable Tracking] option at the bottom. It will place a cookie on your machine that tells sovrn/viglink to not do what it is doing whenever a sovrn/viglink-enabled site is accessed from that browser. Let us know if that fixes it.

In the meantime, I'll talk to IB and see if they can do anything about it.

The owners of this site does install ad tracking software. One of the installed trackers is called Viglink, now called Sovrn.

I've always recommended to all users here to use some sort of adblock like AdblockPlus in their browser.