“Virus” (CC BY 2.0) by Yu. Samoilov
Wherever you stand on compound words like infotainment and textpectation, there’s one that you definitely never want to come across, and that’s “malvertising”. Short for malicious advertising, it’s precisely the sort of thing that could completely ruin your week. It’s a growing problem these days as hackers, other cybercriminals, and mischief-makers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way that they post fake ads online.
Many book legitimate ad spaces online and use the operation to post dangerous ads instead. As a result of the convoluted way that ad space is booked online, it’s often very hard to trace the source of the malvertising. To fight back, advertisers are increasingly turning services that employ complex techniques to monitor and identify activity, a cybersecurity specialist like Geoedge for example, before it can do any harm. There are different types out there, with some more established than others, but whichever methods are used against cybercrime, it’s important to ensure you are protected.
This is because instances of this particular type of cybercrime are still happening. For example, in 2019 the VeryMal attack caused considerable chaos in a very short space of time by using obfuscation malware. What was even more surprising was the fact that it specifically attacked Macs, generally thought to be less susceptible to infection. So, as there are clearly a number of ways that damage can be wreaked on the unsuspecting who click on an ad that looks to be 100% legitimate, we have put together a few pointers on how you can avoid them.
Watch Out For These
“Hacking” (CC BY 2.0) by EpicTop10.com
An increasingly common one is the use of so-called steganography in which malicious code is hidden within an image – this technique was used in addition to the obfuscation malware in the VeryMal attack. A step up from this is the use of polyglot images. These also contain the script that’s needed to instigate the attack using embedded code.
A more forthright approach that can quickly escalate is scareware. Typically, you’ll click on an ad and you’ll see all kinds of scary warnings that there is a virus on your computer. The only way to cure it will be to buy a piece of software or get in touch with a help desk to step in and “solve” the problem. A variation on this is the tech-support scam which is very similar and may tell you that there is an immediate need to update your software or make some other kind of adjustment to your computer.
Staying Safe
Luckily, there are things you can do to keep yourself safe from the bad ads that have slipped through the net. A great deal has happened to tighten up security in the years since 2015 when even the giant MSN was hit by an attack. The first is to make sure that you have up-to-date anti-virus and malware protection running on your computer, along with the latest version of the operating system.
Plus, it’s a question of using common sense. If an ad online looks too good to be true, it probably is. But do be aware that fake ads can look very realistic. So, hopefully, these two tips will help to keep you safe, along with the approach of “if in doubt, leave well alone” as well as “better safe than sorry”!
