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Anatomy of an Attempted Malware Scam
Dynamoo writes "Malicious advertisements are getting more and more common as the Bad Guys try to use reputable ad networks to spread malware. Julia Casale-Amorim of Casale Media details the lengths that some fake companies will go to to convince ad networks to take the bait."
And site owners and advertisers wonder why users go to such extremes with Adblock plus and NoScript to block ad's.
If the sites (or ad distributors) can't guarantee the safety of their own sites, then users have to do whatever is necessary to protect their own systems. If that means no advertising income for those sites - tough luck.
I'm also suitably stupefied. All the "pink" and "red" flags that they are obviously so clever to spot, and which she spends almost the entire article talking about, are just her dancing around the elephant in the room: that she and her team are complete fucking idiots.
Seriously. The important things they learnt, consolidated in the "6 steps" at the bottom of the article are pure common-sense. Even if they're not concerned about "malvertisements" (ick) they should already have been checking references properly (i.e. using a bank's listed number, not one provided by the "agency" and checking the certificates of incorporation of them and their referees). It's common fucking sense even when you are just trying to establish whether or not to extend a line of credit to them! I wish I could have avoided swearing, but it makes me feel physically sick to think that someone can publically admit to being such a colossal moron and still have a job. Not only that, but to have people thanking her for her insight!! Idiots! How much time was wasted by her, her sales droids, her marketers etc.? Idiots! Using the word "creative" as a noun when referring to banner-ad files? Idiot!! AAAGHHH!
In so many words others have expressed what I have summarized down to "advertisers don't respect their audience." Their approach has almost always been the capitalist "what the market will bear" approach and as people have grown accustomed to being assaulted with ever more eye-catching colors, styles, techniques and technologies, the limits of what the market will bear erode. People no longer realize they are being disrespected. Their paid-for internet connection are being utilized. Their time is being wasted. They will install software that resists being uninstalled and drains performance and stability from their computers. I see no end to what they will do.
There is a blurry and indistinguishable line between "reputable ad networks" and "the bad guys." The reputable are certainly not constrained by morals and not by law. How can we know they aren't simply being complicit?