US gadget blog Gizmodo apologised to readers on Tuesday after failing to spot an ad was in fact malware.
Gizmodo said the malware was on its site "for a little while last week," without specifying details.
"They somehow fooled our ad sales team through an elaborate scam. It's taken care of now, and only a few people should have been affected, but this isn't something we take lightly as writers, editors and tech geeks."
"Everything should be cleared up but you should be checking 'qegasysguard.exe' if you're experiencing random popups," Lam added. "Be careful, load up some antivirus and make sure your system is clean. I'm sorry."
The problem wasn't spotted for sometime due to the fact Gizmodo is put together on Mac and Linux computers. "We would have noticed sooner except everyone on staff is on OS X or Linux for production machines," Lam admitted.
Malware and fake virus adverts or scareware appear to be on the rise with the New York Times and Daily Mail both being recent victims.
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