{"id":3154,"date":"2017-01-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otava.test\/what-is-malvertising\/"},"modified":"2017-01-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T00:00:00","slug":"what-is-malvertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/","title":{"rendered":"What is malvertising?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-17066\" src=\"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg\" alt=\"Malvertising\" width=\"350\" height=\"258\" \/>Malvertising, a portmanteau of \u201cmalicious\u201d and \u201cadvertising\u201d has quickly become popular with bad guys everywhere. Its first appearance was detected in 2007, and it\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2015\/8\/25\/9202301\/advertising-malware-malvertising-statistics-flash-vulnerability\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on the rise<\/a> ever since. What makes this form of malware so popular?<\/p>\n<p>Malvertising is more dangerous than typical malware because as an end user, you could be a victim without knowing it. According to Elad Sharf of Websense, malvertising attracts hackers because \u201cthey can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What is malvertising?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Malvertising targets third-party ad companies who host ads on websites, and the users who visit those sites. Why is it so dangerous? It can affect users with or without their interaction. Malicious ads can appear in two ways: The standard way, such as popups or alerts warning users of an infection in their system, which entices the victim to click to install \u201canti-virus\u201d software\u2014really just malware. The second way is when a user visits a site that happens to have malicious ads on it. They can become infected when a malicious script looks for vulnerabilities on the computer so it can download and execute a file on the system. This kind of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drive-by_download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">drive-by download<\/a>\u00a0requires no clicking from the user.<\/p>\n<p>How does malvertising attack advertisers? Website ads are bid for in real time, and whoever wins the bid gets the ad, regardless of who the buyer is. Many of these transactions are automatic, and the seller may not know the buyer. Criminals take advantage of this by bidding for ads and triggering the delivery of malicious payloads when their bids win.<\/p>\n<p>Reputable websites are increasingly hit with these types of attacks, and sites such as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2016\/mar\/16\/major-sites-new-york-times-bbc-ransomware-malvertising\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The New York Times<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.networkworld.com\/article\/3021113\/security\/forbes-malware-ad-blocker-advertisements.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Forbes<\/a> (ironically after asking readers to disable their ad blocker software)\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-12891182\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Spotify<\/a>\u00a0have all fallen victim to malvertising campaigns. In the case of the New York Times, criminals posted legitimate ads for a week prior to gain the trust of the paper before sending bad ads.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mobile attacks<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Malvertising has also been linked to <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.iboss.com\/it\/defending-against-a-mobile-malware-and-malvertising-onslaught\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">mobile devices<\/a>, specifically <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csoonline.com\/article\/3060688\/security\/malvertising-exploit-kit-pushes-ransomware-to-android-devices.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Android<\/a>,\u00a0meaning it has crossed over into the mobile world. While mobile malvertising is still relatively new, it is inevitable that it will be as big a problem as it currently is with everyone using mobile devices all the time. \u00a0Link any stories of malvertising attacks on phones if possible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What\u2019s the link between malvertising and ransomware? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the most popular methods for getting <a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/blog\/what-is-ransomware-and-how-do-you-protect-against-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ransomware<\/a> installed on a victim\u2019s computer is through <a href=\"https:\/\/www.menlosecurity.com\/blog\/ransomware-malvertising-the-troublesome-twins-of-the-web\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">malvertising<\/a>. Once the ransomware is downloaded, it goes to work encrypting the victim\u2019s files, and before they know it, they\u2019ve been locked out without even clicking on a link.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How do you protect yourself against malvertising?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It sounds like you\u2019re helpless to protect yourself against malvertising, but that\u2019s not true. One of the most important steps you can take to protect yourself is to install an ad blocker to keep ads from loading onto your browser in the first place (and get a cleaner user experience to boot). Also make sure your Flash and Javascript plugins are up to date. Criminals exploit vulnerabilities in those programs more often than not, and keeping them up to date helps keep you secure. There are also browser extensions or plugins that detect malware and alert you to any threats or suspicious files. Don\u2019t ignore anti-virus software; if you click on an ad or are the victim of a drive-by download, your AV can stop those files from executing on your computer.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t take malvertising lightly, because unfortunately, it\u2019s not likely to go away any time soon. It\u2019s so effective because it can affect a wide swath of users without any interaction necessary. But don\u2019t fret! You can help protect yourself against malvertising. If you install an ad blocker, keep your plugins patched and up to date, and have anti-virus software, you are taking important steps to mitigate the risk posed by these kinds of threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Malvertising, a portmanteau of \u201cmalicious\u201d and \u201cadvertising\u201d has quickly become popular with bad guys everywhere. Its first appearance was detected in 2007, and it\u2019s been on the rise ever since. What makes this form of malware so popular? Malvertising is more dangerous than typical malware because as an end user, you could be a victim without knowing it. According to Elad Sharf of Websense, malvertising attracts hackers because \u201cthey can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.\u201d What is malvertising? Malvertising targets third-party ad companies who host ads on websites, and the users who visit those sites. Why is it so dangerous? It can affect users with or without their interaction. Malicious ads can appear in two ways: The standard way, such as popups or alerts warning users of an infection in their system, which entices the victim to click to install \u201canti-virus\u201d software\u2014really just malware. The second way is when a user visits a site that happens to have malicious ads on it. They can become infected when a malicious script looks for vulnerabilities on the computer so it can download and execute a file on the system. This kind of drive-by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"other_category":[],"class_list":["post-3154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is malvertising? | OTAVA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Malvertising attracts hackers because they can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is malvertising?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Malvertising attracts hackers because they can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OTAVA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-11T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Irma Brillantes\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263\"},\"headline\":\"What is malvertising?\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-11T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/\"},\"wordCount\":674,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/\",\"name\":\"What is malvertising? | OTAVA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-11T00:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Malvertising attracts hackers because they can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is malvertising?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\",\"name\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg\",\"caption\":\"OTAVA\u00ae\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263\",\"name\":\"Irma Brillantes\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Irma Brillantes\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/author\/ibrillantesotava-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is malvertising? | OTAVA","description":"Malvertising attracts hackers because they can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is malvertising?","og_description":"Malvertising attracts hackers because they can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/","og_site_name":"OTAVA","article_published_time":"2017-01-11T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Irma Brillantes","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Irma Brillantes","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/"},"author":{"name":"Irma Brillantes","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263"},"headline":"What is malvertising?","datePublished":"2017-01-11T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/"},"wordCount":674,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/","name":"What is malvertising? | OTAVA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg","datePublished":"2017-01-11T00:00:00+00:00","description":"Malvertising attracts hackers because they can easily spread across a large number of legitimate websites without directly compromising those websites.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/otava.test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/Malvertising-01.11.17-BLOG-125097487.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/what-is-malvertising\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is malvertising?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/","name":"OTAVA\u00ae","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization","name":"OTAVA\u00ae","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/otava-logo.svg","caption":"OTAVA\u00ae"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263","name":"Irma Brillantes","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d5251bebc1699793a698d1a6158603cb3cdc50a095a12357e42d415b3e5546c2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Irma Brillantes"},"url":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/author\/ibrillantesotava-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3154"},{"taxonomy":"other_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/other_category?post=3154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}