U.S. Charges 7 in Alleged Internet Ad Fraud Scam
November 9, 2011
For the first time, I believe, U.S. authorities Wednesday charged seven people living in Estonia and Russia with using malicious software to hijack millions of computers worldwide to redirect Internet searches toward online ads.
Starting in 2007, the suspects created fake companies that contracted with legitimate advertiser websites to drive Internet traffic toward their Internet pages, according to a Manhattan federal court indictment.
About 4 million computers in 100 countries including the United States were infected with malicious software designed by the defendants that would redirect an Internet user's browser toward the online advertisements, the indictment said. The defendants were paid about $14 million by advertisers based on the amount of "clicks" the ad pages would receive, it said.
Source: Chicago Tribune
Note - these people could have installed spyware on your computer. Maybe you should ensure that your security software protects against such malware.
William F. Slater, III, M.S., MBA, PMP, CISSP, SSCP, CISA, MCITP, MCSE, ISO 20000, ISO 27002, MCP #3585
Project Manager / Program Manager
Chicago, IL
slater@billslater.com
http://billslater.com/career
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