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Fox, Google and Yahoo! Ad Networks Distribute Malware

by Terrence O'Brien on March 24, 2010 at 08:10 AM

Yahoo! and Fox Among Ad Networks Distributing Malware
Malware purveyors are increasingly turning to ad networks to (unwittingly) infect users computers, rather than taking the time and effort to hack individual Web sites. They've now opted to hijack some of the ads that you see served across the Web. Security firm Avast discovered an attack, which has infected every major ad serving network, that infects computers the moment the ad is loaded -- no user interaction required. CNET reports that the ads use Javascript to search for holes in common browser plugins like Adobe Reader, Flash and QuickTime, and then can launch fake anti-virus warnings on Windows PCs.

The most common channels for delivering the malicious payload are ads hosted by Fox and Yahoo!, which accounted for over 50-percent of the infectious ads detected by Avast's network of users. Google's DoubleClick network was also amongst those compromised, though it was not in the top eight sources for the attack. (You can see a chart of the number of malicious ads served up above.)

Avast took the opportunity to urge advertising networks to be more diligent in inspecting the content they distribute to partner sites. Ads are already a source of annoyance for some, but having your credit card information stolen simply because you performed a Google search is unacceptable. Users should update their anti-malware tools, and make sure their firewalls are turned on. Alternatively, browser add-ons like Adblock Plus and NoScript should protect against the vulnerability as well. [From: Avast and CNET, Via: BoingBoing]

Tags: ads, advertising, avast, fox, google, Google DoubleClick, GoogleDoubleclick, javascript, malware, security, top, yahoo

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