Security researchers recently discovered a new malwarethat exploits popular online advertising channels to trick users and infect their computers.
Adobe Flash has long been used as a means of attacking computers through browsers, because attackers can execute their own scripts on remote websites without users realizing it. For this reason, Adobe is in a constant race to find security holes in Flash Player and release security updates quite frequently, trying to fix these problems as quickly as possible.
Recently, readers of The Huffington Post were exposed to an ad from Hugo Boss, which aimed to install a version of Cryptowall ransomware on unsuspecting visitors' computers. Of course, neither the newspaper nor the clothing and fragrance company knew anything about the incident.
The malware developer presented a fake ad via an online ad network, bid for banner placement, and then uploaded the ad. To ensure that his ad would be accepted, the original content was clean of any malicious scripts.
When the banner was approved and uploaded, the developer made an update to his banner, which did not require further approval, and the distribution of the advertisement to website visitors began.
The most important aspect of the incident and the one that poses the most risks is the automated process of online advertising, especially in the part that concerns checking them for malware, which is very difficult to do on every banner that can be placed on websites. Even worse is that online advertising companies do not seriously check the advertisements that are submitted to them for approval.
In this case, the user didn't even need to click on the banner to be redirected to another location. As soon as they saw the ad, the malware, exploiting vulnerabilities in Flash Player, was able to infect the visitor's computer.
