From PC World: Google has stopped a widespread malicious advertising attack that bounced Web surfers to dodgy sites hawking weight loss and skin care products.
The malicious ads were delivered to website owners signed up with Google’s AdSense program, wrote Denis Sinegubko, a senior malware researcher with Sucuri, a Delware-based security company. AdSense supplies relevant banner advertisements to websites.
When displayed, the malicious advertisements automatically redirected a person’s browser to bogus websites. Those websites were designed to look like legitimate magazines such as Forbes and Good Housekeeping, featuring spammy offerings for anti-aging and brain-enhancing products, among others, Sinegubko wrote.
The attacks persisted since mid-December, spiking last Friday before Google apparently eliminated the malicious advertisements over the weekend, Sinegubko wrote. The problem generated a large number of questions and comments on Google’s AdSense help forum.
The type of attack, known as malvertising, has been an ongoing problem for online advertising companies. Scammers will often submit non-malicious ads for approval then swap those out for malicious ones.
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