Microsoft has filed five civil lawsuits, which are said to be the first of their kind against a phenomenon known as malvertising.
The Redmond, Washington-based software major filed lawsuits in a US court against five unknown individuals using the business names Soft Solutions, Direct Ad, qiweroqw.com, ITmeter INC and ote2008.info. The company is seeking damages as well as temporary and permanent injunctive relief against the defendants.
Tim Cranton, associate general counsel of Microsoft, wrote in a blog post: “Malvertising works by camouflaging malicious code as harmless online advertisements. These ads then lead to harmful or deceptive content.”
Malvertisements may also infect a victim’s computer with malicious software like Trojans or even bring the users computer under the control of a remote operator.
The lawsuits allege that the defendants used malvertisements to distribute malicious software or present deceptive websites that peddled scareware to unsuspecting internet users.
Mr Cranton added: “Although we don’t yet know the names of the specific individuals behind these acts, we are filing these cases to help uncover the people responsible and prevent them from continuing their exploits. We hope that today’s filings will help deter malvertising in the future.”
“Microsoft works vigilantly, using both technology and the law, to fight illegal activity that undermines people’s trust in the Internet and online services.”
