Microsoft files lawsuits in malicious-ad crackdown

Seeking to stop "malvertising" with court action

By Ina Fried

Published: 18 September 2009 15:29 BST

Aiming to crack down on a growing problem, Microsoft said it filed five lawsuits on Thursday against parties it suspects of posting online advertisements laden with malicious code.
Microsoft has tried to work with ad networks to thwart such "malvertising" in the past but this is the first time it has gone to court.

Microsoft associate general counsel Tim Cranton said in a blog posting: "Our filings in King County Superior Court in Seattle outline how we believe the defendants operated, but in general, malvertising works by camouflaging malicious code as harmless online advertisements."

More:
http://software.silicon.com/security/0,390...39527468,00.htm

Company files suit against purveyors of 'malvertising'

Shaun Nichols in San Francisco

V3.co.uk, 19 Sep 2009

Microsoft is going to court in hopes of cracking down on malicious online advertisements.

The company announced on Friday that it had filed civil suits against five advertisers accused of injecting advertisements with malicious code on web pages. Known as 'malvertising,' the process is often used to infect legitimate pages with code that can lead users to become infected with unwanted or malicious applications.

The suits have been filed in a district court in Microsoft's home state of Washington. Because Microsoft does not know the names of the individuals actually placing the ads, the company is targeting the business names that were used to purchase the advertisements.

More to read at:
http://www.v3.co.uk/v3/news/2249773/micros...takes-aim-shady