Clickbait Chaos: Hackers Exploit Google Ads in Sophisticated Malvertising Campaign

Indicators of Compromise

Notes

<span id="docs-internal-guid-0c678767-7fff-989c-c3cd-63e29de3a275"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">CONCLUSION</span></p><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Cybercriminals' "Clickbait Chaos" campaign shows how they innovate to abuse trusted platforms like Google Ads. Malvertising lets attackers spread malware to unwitting victims across sectors and countries. This sophisticated strategy endangers users, businesses, and key infrastructure.</span></p><br><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">To prevent such attacks, organizations need strong cybersecurity and personnel training. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://socradar.io/products/extended-threat-intelligence/">Extended Threat Intelligence</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> modules from SOCRadar handle these changing threats. </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://socradar.io/products/dark-web-monitoring/">Advanced Dark Web Monitoring</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://socradar.io/products/dark-web-monitoring/"> </a>helps enterprises find leaked data before it is exploited.<a href="https://socradar.io/products/cyber-threat-intelligence/"> </a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://socradar.io/products/cyber-threat-intelligence/">Cyber Threat Intelligence</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> monitors new </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://socradar.io/labs/campaigns/">campaigns</a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"> in real time, while </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(17, 85, 204); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://socradar.io/products/brand-protection/">Brand Protection </a></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">prevents malvertising impersonation. These technologies help organizations keep ahead of threats and build resilience.</span></p><div><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><br></span></div></span>

Mitigation

<span id="docs-internal-guid-ef6d9eef-7fff-3922-f987-388a3a503a21"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">MITIGATION</span></p><br><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">T1566 - Phishing</span></p><br><div style="margin-left:0pt;" align="left"><table style="border:none;border-collapse:collapse;"><colgroup><col><col><col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:37.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;text-align: center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">ID</span></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;text-align: center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Mitigation</span></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;text-align: center;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-weight: 700; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Description</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:42.25pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1049"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1049</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1049"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Antivirus/Antimalware</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Anti-virus can automatically quarantine suspicious files.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:42.25pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1047"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1047</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1047"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Audit</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Perform audits or scans of systems, permissions, insecure software, insecure configurations, etc. to identify potential weaknesses.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:55.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1031"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1031</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1031"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Network Intrusion Prevention</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Network intrusion prevention systems and systems designed to scan and remove malicious email attachments or links can be used to block activity.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:55.75pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1021"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1021</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1021"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Restrict Web-Based Content</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Determine if certain websites or attachment types (ex: .scr, .exe, .pif, .cpl, etc.) that can be used for phishing are necessary for business operations and consider blocking access if activity cannot be monitored well or if it poses a significant risk.</span></p></td></tr><tr style="height:68.5pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1054"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1054</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1054"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Software Configuration</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Use anti-spoofing and email authentication mechanisms to filter messages based on validity checks of the sender domain (using SPF) and integrity of messages (using DKIM). Enabling these mechanisms within an organization (through policies such as DMARC) may enable recipients (intra-org and cross domain) to perform similar message filtering and validation.</span><a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/security/office-365-security/anti-spoofing-protection?view=o365-worldwide"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[17]</span></a><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210708014107/https://www.cyber.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-03/spoof_email_sender_policy_framework.pdf"><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[18]</span></a></p></td></tr><tr style="height:42.25pt;"><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1017"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">M1017</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><a href="https://attack.mitre.org/mitigations/M1017"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(79, 124, 172); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">User Training</span></a></p></td><td style="border-left:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-right:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-bottom:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;border-top:solid #dfdfdf 0.8333325pt;vertical-align:top;background-color:#f2f2f2;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;"><p style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: transparent; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Users can be trained to identify social engineering techniques and phishing emails.</span></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div></span>