Malvertising – It’s Back, Again

Malvertising – malicious online ads often requiring zero user interaction to infect unsuspecting website visitors. Cybersecurity firm Avast discusses how the current scourge of malvertising appears to be more dynamic, stealthy, and persistent than historically observed. Malicious ads are often invisible and embedded into well-known websites through online advertising networks. Google, being the largest advertising network, does a great job fighting this threat, but smaller advertising networks have not been as intentional at making it difficult for threat actors to infect the online advertising ecosystem. To make them even more difficult to stop, these threat actors will sometimes pose as an independent ad network to gain trust before slipping malicious ads into the daily flow. Recent campaigns highlight the importance for users to be aware that the next website they visit could invisibly infect their device. Avast incudes a list of best practices to protect from malvertising, including suggestions on safely using (or deleting) browser plugins often abused by threat actors. Read more at Avast