The Rise of Malvertising

Malicious software, or malware, is being disseminated via contaminated online adverts. Hackers have been taking advantage of inherent flaws found in Adobe Flash which has caused many companies to move away from its implementation.

Popular, high traffic websites typically outsource their advertising content management to third party ad-networks. In doing so they may inadvertently incorporate malvertising into their websites via the malicious code hidden within seemingly genuine advertisements.

The swift turnover of advertising campaigns makes the tracking of malvertising incidents extremely difficult. Advertising packages can easily be purchased with stolen credit card information from legitimate advertising agencies.

Hackers have been known to pay for an advertising campaign in full and up front, secure in the knowledge that profit will follow. Smaller websites offering advertising campaigns directly are advised to be vigilant against social engineering ploys. Deals that sound unusually attractive may be used to hide nefarious motives. Some hackers will pretend to be attached to legitimate, well known companies.

Readers are advised to research domain registry and to be wary of those with hidden contact details, recently created profiles or the listing of free email service accounts as the sole contact point.