Just as a homeowner needs insurance to protect her against unforeseen disasters, a publisher needs to be sure their business and users are protected from malvertising. These attacks peak on weekends and holidays, when technical experts aren’t around to identify the source. In almost all cases, identification and resolution of the malware attack doesn’t happen until considerable
damage has already been done. And regardless of the technique used by the perpetrators, or the channel through which the exploit occurred (we’ve seen them through ad networks and direct-sold campaigns in equal measure), the problem for a publisher’s ad operations group is the same.

A publisher that doesn’t have protection in place is at the greatest risk of malvertising and infecting their most valuable commodity – their users.  We know firsthand from these publishers that it’s not worth playing the odds. Every minute that a threat goes undetected, more and more of a publisher’s user base is affected, resulting in angry users, decreased brand trust and significant churn in both users and revenue.

Since we rolled out SiteScout AdStream Protection™ 5.2 this summer, we’ve seen some surprising – and scary – things:

• 89 billion ad impressions monitored
• More than 63 million monthly unique users at risk from exploits prevented by SiteScout technology
• The majority of exploits have occurred on weekends

With publisher revenue at its peak in Q4, ad streams are at even greater risk. Threats and attacks find their way in through ad exchanges, ad networks and direct ad campaigns where bad guys use many techniques including hacking servers, submitting malicious ads directly, or impersonating legitimate people or companies, and publishers eager to capture increased ad spend that accompanies the holidays might be more busy than usual, and less likely to double-check the validity of a buyer. Fewer resources, more vacation days, and more hectic schedules create a perfect storm for risk of malware.

No one likes these kinds of surprises. To learn more about malvertising and what you can do to keep your site safe, download our free whitepaper, “Best Practices: Malware & Online Security.”