Malicious Ads Used to Deliver Targeted Spyware, Experts Recommend Ad Blockers
• Spyware makers have developed systems to infect targets through malicious ads that seem harmless, like job offers targeted to specific groups
• The Israeli company Intellexa presented a proof-of-concept system in 2022 called Aladdin that plants phone spyware through online ads
• Another Israeli company, Insanet, succeeded in developing an ad-based system to locate and target specific individuals
• Online ad exchanges can be abused to push spyware to a target's device through malicious ads, known as malvertising
• Security experts recommend using an ad blocker as a defense against malvertising and ad-based malware that could deliver spyware