Monday 22 February 2010

Online adverts infect PCs

Adverts on legitimate websites have been installing malware on victims' PCs for the last few days. All major online advertisement services have been affected. Visiting a site that uses any of the following services could potentially compromise your computer, with the end result being the installation of spyware and other unwelcome software:
  • advertangel.com
  • bannerconnect.net
  • bannerimg.com
  • bidsystem.com
  • doubleclick.net
  • globaltakeoff.net
  • googleadservices.com
  • jambovideonetwork.com
  • myspace.com
  • openx.net
  • specificclick.net
  • unanimis.co.uk
  • vuze.com
  • xtendmedia.com
  • yieldmanager.com
  • zedo.com
  • vestraff.com
Note the inclusion of Google's DoubleClick and GoogleAdServices services, as well as Yahoo!'s Yieldmanager service.

This situation, which highlights the risks involved when advertising companies sub-contract the content they distribute, has been reviewed by a number of security companies, including F-Secure and ALWIL Software (of Avast! anti-virus software fame).

F-Secure notes the chain of events that took one individual from a legitimate site to a fake anti-virus Trojan. In this example the advert traffic starts with Google's GoogleAdServices.com domain, moves through DoubleClick and Yieldmanager only to end up at a site hosting pharmaceutical goods and a link to the rogue anti-virus site. The following is F-Secure's initial analysis:

+partner.googleadservices.com
++pubads.g.doubleclick.net
+++ad.bannerconnect.net
++++ad.yieldmanager.com
+++++("pharmacy" site that contains a link to a Rogue-hosting site)
++++++The Rogue-hosting site

ALWIL Software refers to this scenario as ad-poisoning and notes that, "The most compromised services are yieldmanager.com (Yahoo) and fimserve.com (FOX Audience Network) which covers more than 50% [of ALWIL's dataset]."

Trivial note: I first wrote about this type of problem three years ago, when I created this blog. In fact, I wrote Spyware Through Google Adverts within days of starting.

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