How Web Ads Can Lead To Security Breach?

There is no doubt that ads generate awareness and revenue for any business. But they also pose security threats, when they pop-up uninvited on your webpage. No one is safe from these malicious attackers who can put customers' security at risk.

  • They slow down your internet speed.
  • They can be cumbersome and annoying at times.
  • Act as a security breach when ads are used as malads.

Exploiting unaware customers in online ad systems is an increasingly common approach for computer criminals around the globe who hope to make a quick buck from the audiences of the sites they attack. A term, internet users should be comfortable with is “Maladvertisement.”

A malvertisement (malicious advertisement) is an advertisement on the Internet that is capable of infecting the viewer's computer with malware.

Simply put, it has the power to indulge in identity thefts and espionage if left unchecked.

How malvertisements are being done? 

Most online ads are sold or distributed on the web through an ad network. As a result, ads can appear on a site that its operators have not directly approved, and they may be pulled into its pages from computer servers that it does not control.

This is where the third party gets involved. In most cases, in order to built reputation and credibility, vendors run genuine ads for the customers. This is to establish trust. And when that trust is established, they start producing malicious activities.

A malicious code is injected that compromises the computers, and when the damage is done, the ad is removed.  Scareware, which is malicious code disguised as an anti-virus application, is often delivered through pop-up ads.

So to protect yourself from these kind of security breaches, users are cautioned to block any pop-up ads and to only trust vendors they have experienced before.

Who is to blame?

Unfortunately, this is mostly the work of a third party.

An online ad may have been passed on through many generators, and when it is finally viewed, chances are that many parties have changed hands. Who is to blame? Who should we trust? This is where the web page owners have to rely on gut feeling. What to do?

The best approach will be to adopt ad filtering and ad blocking. Ad blocking is a technology, which allows for blocking ads before they are loaded by the web browser. An ad filter is a list of rules the ad blocker works by. In the filter list it will be stated that on a given website.

The more accurate the filter list is, the better the ad blocking will work. It really does come down to your own cautious steps to protect your own web security; working behind a secure VPN is one of such ways.

PureVPN takes special care to protect your online browsing activities. Apart from all the best VPN services that it provides, PureVPN allows you to block all ads, once you start using its VPN extension on Chrome.

Using PureVPN guarantees protection against all threats. So start using PureVPN now and be anonymous and secure on the web.


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