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Beware mobile users! Malvertisements is on the rise

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VoicenData Bureau
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Wi Fi mobile security

NEW DELHI: A business model based on web advertising always put the user at risk and this is because site owners cannot control the ads that are being seen by users, and as a result this is triggering the rise of malvertisement.

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Trend Micro, in its round-up report, has revealed that a major company was recently the target of this zero-day exploit, in which malvertising was sent out through Adobe software, so victims of this kind of attacks were no longer required to visit a specific website to infect their computers.

In the first quarter of 2015, Adobe suffered from three different exploits that targeted each new release of Adobe Flash; in total, over 10,000 computers were infected with BEDEP malware.

But, not only computers were targeted by these malicious attacks based on advertising, mobile devices were also affected. Adware was also found on several apps inside Google Play, these apps all used MDash software development kit; this made harmful apps present on all mobile devices that had any of these apps installed.

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According to the report, millions of devices were infected before Google took responsibility and removed over 2,000 malicious apps.

"Cyber threats are exponentially growing with every passing second, and Trend Micro in the hopes to better inform and prevent cyber attacks, has released in its first quarterly security roundup of the year, the main security risks that users have faced since the beginning of the year. This first quarter’s threats range from the exploits that Adobe Flash faced back in February, to applications ridden with Adware in Google Play, to point-of-sale malware attacks in retail stores,” said Dhanya Thakkar, Managing Director, APAC, Trend Micro.

In only three months, there have been some serious incidents that have put the user’s information and security at risk. Trend Micro states that the people behind malware, will “not hesitate to take advantage of even the slightest security loophole to get what they want”, and in today’s digitalized world, there should not be any room for this kind of errors.

Crypto-ransomware is another kind of malware that was greatly present during the year’s first quarter. The goal of this type of malware was to hold the user’s computer “hostage” and restrict all access to it, until a ransom has been paid.

Crypto-ransomware, not only targets the average consumer, it also takes aim at companies and their interactions, meaning that anyone that shared a link with the already infected computer, now has possibly became ill with crypto-ransomware. In order to avoid Crypto-ransomware, users can download and install specialized software that can stop a crypto-ransomware attack before it lock down your computer. It is uncertain the amount of malware that is released each month or quarters, as it is evolving at a similar pace, the report added.

google trend-micro malvertisement crypto-ransomware
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