Viruses and malware found on Web advertisements

Think that Web advertisement is legit? Due to many companies outsourcing their advertisement needs as a way to boost sales in a weak economy, hackers are finding it easier to access important data through ads. The sneaky situation is explained.

In light of the economy and an increase in outsourcing sales for advertisements to boost bottom lines, certain viruses are beginning to make their way onto computers. The reason is being viewed as the ease in which viruses and malware can be loaded into an ad as well as the volatility of the advertising world. In a fox news report, a story of a less than positive experience revealed just how easy this can happen:

On a Saturday night at the end of May, visitors to the forums section of Digital Spy, a British entertainment and media news Web site, were greeted with an ad that loaded malicious software onto their computers. The Web site's advertising system had been hacked.

Essentially, simply clicking on an advertisement or the specific site can create a downward spiral of events including infection that can be used to steal passwords and event identities. Of course, it isn't the advertiser who is creating the problems but rather hackers who had infiltrated the retailer's site and secretly redirected users to a harmful site. According to Ben Edelman, a researcher at Harvard Business School in the area of Web security, "The system is only as safe as its least secure members, and some of these members can be strikingly insecure." Even though problems are typically uncovered and fixed within a few hours, unwilling visitors end up with a sneaky virus or a compromised computer system. A report in The Wallstreet Journal (subscription required) describe the events as a "Complex System of Middlemen, Resellers, Auctions Creates Vulnerabilities" as the Web ads bring in a new wave of threat to an unsuspecting community.