Everbody Panic! Malvertising on the Rise.
Digital threat management solution RiskIQ released its annual malvertising report and it appears 2016 had a major spike in activity.
Delivered through ad networks such as Google and Facebook, threat actors use malvertising to propagate malware, ransomware, and scams (disingenuous advertising), as well as redirect victims to phishing pages and pages hosting exploit kits.
Key findings from the RIskIQ report include:
- 132% increase in total malvertisements
- 1,978% increase in redirections to phishing pages
- 845% increase in scam detections (disingenuous ads)
- 22% increase in antivirus binary injections
- 58% increase in scareware and browser lockers
"Malvertising is so nefarious because it's a direct attack on the lifeblood of the internet as we know it. Digital media marketing is what funds the 'free' websites we all know and enjoy online. The success of the internet and all the people that rely on it is inextricably linked to online advertising success and safety," said James Pleger, threat researcher at RiskIQ. "Publishers, ad platforms, and ad operations teams need active visibility, forensic information, and mitigation capability to enable them to effectively detect and respond to malicious ads in the wild."
