Programmatic

Cybersecurity Firm Finds Increasingly Complex and Common Malware Inside of Ad Networks

Devcon says it's found several polyglots

malware-ad-networks-content-2019 — Hackers' attacks on ad networks are evolving. Getty Images

March 6, 2019

A cybersecurity firm says it’s uncovered an experimental and more complex form of malware than previously seen inside of several major ad networks, potentially signaling that mainstream hackers are looking to target the ad-tech ecosystem beyond siphoning revenue.

Devcon, a startup focused on cybersecurity for the media industry, says it found several polyglots—malware that uses complex code to disguise itself within an image—inside of what appear to be digital ads pretending to be from brands. The company didn’t disclose which websites served up malicious ads, but so far, the fraudulent ads have been seen in ad servers including GumGum and Yahoo, with a handful of sites attacked as many as 50,000 times over the past few weeks.