Malvertiserssued by Microsoft
September 21, 2009
Microsoft filed five civil lawsuits in King County Superior Court in Seattle on Thursday, in an attempt to stop the spread of a new type of malware that has infected online advertising, appropriately dubbed "malvertising."
The practice first garnered worldwide attention this week after malvertisers placed ads on the website of the New York Times that redirected browsers to a fake virus scan and attempted to convince users to buy spurious antivirus software.
The lawsuits name "Direct Ad," "qiweroqw.com," "ITmeter," "Soft Solutions," and "ote2008.info" as defendants, alleging that they misused Microsoft products to disseminate malware and bogus advertisements. According to the New York Times report on the incident itself, the malvertisers posed as Vonage, which regularly advertises on the Times website, in order to gain access and plant their phony virus warnings. The malvertisements themselves initially appeared to be legitimate advertisements, but revealed themselves quickly once uploaded.
"Fraud and malicious abuse of online ad platforms are…a serious threat to the industry and for all consumers and businesses that rely on these free services," said Microsoft associate general counsel Tim Cranton. The lawsuits are the first to specifically target malvertisers, according to Cranton.
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