"Google Ads Increasingly Pointing To Malware"

The FBI has recently published a warning to the public regarding search engine advertisements that push malware disguised as legitimate software. This is an old tactic that has resulted in too many malicious advertisements being served to users searching for software, cracked software, drivers, and anything else that can be downloaded via Google and Bing. Malware is distributed to unsuspecting users by threat actors using a variety of tactics. They employ malicious advertisements served by popular websites, Search Engine Optimization (SEO)-poisoned websites, malicious advertisements served by popular search engines, and more. Multiple threat actors are currently using malvertising to spread malware, according to HP security researcher Patrick Schlapfer. Malware distribution via malvertising has witnessed a considerable surge. Some of these operations have been active since late last year and primarily target consumers seeking popular software, such as Audacity, Blender 3D, GIMP, Notepad++, Microsoft Teams, Discord, Microsoft OneNote, 7zip, and OBS. When people search for software on Google, the malicious advertisements often present the first link they see, pointing to a domain that resembles the real software manufacturer's page. The malicious package is downloaded upon clicking the download link from a file-hosting and sharing service, an app development platform, or a code-hosting service. This article continues to discuss the rise in malware distribution through malvertising.

Help Net Security reports "Google Ads Increasingly Pointing To Malware"