Avast, a security firm, discovered in their research the growing scale of adware. According to the report, around 72% of malware on android was adware. Another report by Malwarebytes reveals some shocking numbers with 24 million windows adware detections and 30 million on Macs. Nowadays, with good search engines and added internet security, we hardly consider adware as a severe threat. There was a time, around 2002 when adware attacks were at an all-time high. It was quite common to be faced with pop-ups and adds opening another window showing adverts. Only a few software provided essential protection against these pop-ups.
But in this digital-savvy decade, we hardly consider pop-ups as a security threat, but this report by Avast tells a different story. The numbers show that adware is still very much present and thriving. "Adware is unwanted software designed to throw advertisements up on your screen, most often within a web browser." This adware campaign can have malicious intents, especially using COVID-19, to fulfill their purposes.
Kaspersky released a report in which more than 120,000 malware and adware were impersonating meeting software like Zoom. Most evident were: DealPly and DownloadSponsor. This adware has evolved from their previous counterparts to a high capacity. Now they display that install and download other adware software. In some cases, the adware DealPly and ManageX can be installed automatically with the legitimate installer and other potentially unwanted applications (PUAs). Battling with adware is a hard war because of their large numbers. There are hundreds of apps developed every day and registered; many come laden with adware. To check every single one of them is more robust than finding a needle in a haystack.
In March, Google banned 56 malicious applications, but by then, they already had around a million downloads. It is effortless for these apps to pose as legitimate and carry adware along with them. Adware is often ignored in the shadows of more severe security threats, and even though it is less harmful, it nonetheless is far more ubiquitous. Hence, security teams must be cautious of adware and take preventive steps.
