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Advertising has long been a vector for nefarious actors ranging from organized crime to a variety of other bad actors, but the proliferation of digital media and especially the programmatic advertising marketplace has given rise to increasing opportunities for purveyors of "malvertising" -- digital ads served to unsuspecting users that spread malware, compromise computer systems and harm consumers, publishers and platforms.
And while the magnitude has been difficult to benchmark, much less track, weakening advertising marketplace conditions are projected to accelerate the proliferation of malvertising, according to the first of what is planned to be an ongoing series of "threat assessment" reports published for the ad industry by the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG).
"Internet users remain largely unaware of the threat of malicious and low-quality advertisements on popular and trusted websites, social media platforms, and within search engine results because traditional cybersecurity training programs focus almost exclusively on the dangers of social engineering attacks via email and text messages - a gap that cybercriminals are increasingly using to their advantage," reads the first report in the series, "Exploiting Social Engineering Tactics On The Rise In Malvertising," which was published in July, but is being released broadly today by TAG.