The Complete Malvertising Resource Center

Malvertising is an attack where bad actors use legitimate ad units on publisher websites to inject malicious codes masquerading as a legitimate ad that typically redirects users to malicious websites.

Eradicating, or getting rid of malvertising is really a different story depending on who you are in the digital advertising delivery chain:

1. Platforms: Identifying malicious ads, and tracing back campaigns to the bad advertiser allows you to stop attacks at the source, and remove the offender. 
2. Publishers: Automatically blocking malicious ads as they are served to users, without requiring manual intervention, helps to protect your users and your revenue from malvertising.
3. End Users: Employing the following safeguards as you browse will help protect you from becoming a malvertising victim: 
1. Install quality anti-virus and anti-malware software (and keep it up to date)
2. Run scans
3. Keep your OS current
4. Stay on secure networks (don’t jump on open wifi)
5. Keep passwords safe
6. Backup your info
7. Be smart about what fake ads and bad ads look like (and don’t click on them)

The complexity of the digital advertising ecosystem offers numerous opportunities to hide malicious activity, while reaching a very large audience. Because there are so many steps in the advertising chain, with no agreed upon single step responsible for detecting malvertising makes it easy to sneak through under the radar.