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Malicious adware is 'on the increase'

Cybercriminals are increasingly using online advertising as a means of distributing malicious code in the form of adware, it has been claimed.

Entertainment news website Digital Spy's digital forum was reportedly compromised by cybercriminals that had used an online advert to infect people's computers with malware.

Meanwhile, earlier in the year, Eweek.com had one of the advertising slots on its homepage used by a hacker to take visitors to the site to an external webpage containing malware.

The advertisement posed as a LaCoste promotion for a new t-shirt.

Commenting on the reports of malicious code hiding in internet advertisements, SpamFighter said: "Ads could be incorporated with viruses so that just by clicking one or by going to the site, a visitor could have his computer infected.

"Alternatively, ads could be maliciously utilized for redirecting users onto a disreputable website."

Last week, Google announced that it was stepping up its fight against digital advertising malware by launching an advice website.

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