Click-fraud monetizing malware: A survey and case study

Malware monetization via fraudulent ad traffic is lucrative and relatively easy. Not surprisingly, there is a higher incidence of malware that monetizes in this way today than in the past. Although this type of attack is not new, current methodologies to make malware-generated ad traffic appear organic, at such large scales, while remaining virtually undetected are novel. The on-line world of advertising is complex and not generally well understood. It is well funded and not well supervised. There is little transparency and there are conflicts of interest; thus creating a fertile ground for criminal activity. This paper provides a brief survey of this space, outlines an example analysis of current click-fraud malware, and presents new approaches to combat this type of malware monetization.