Hackers strike defense companies through real-time ad bidding

A major change this year in how online advertisements are sold has been embraced by hackers, who are using advanced ad-targeting capabilities to precisely deliver malware.

Security vendor Invincea said it has detected many instances of people within defense and aerospace companies stumbling across malicious advertisements that are shown only to them, a scheme it calls “Operation DeathClick.” A white paper on the scheme will be released Friday.

The cybercriminals are taking advantage of a sea change in the online advertising industry, which has mostly stopped selling “bulk” user impressions and moved to real-time bidding for advertisements that are highly targeted, said Patrick Belcher, director of malware analysis at Invincea, in a webinar presentation Thursday.

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