malvertiser

The name for a malicious online advertiser. A "malvertisement" is an infected online ad that redirects an unsuspecting user to a malicious site.

Historical perspective: In September, 2009 Microsoft filed five state civil lawsuits against suspected fraudsters in what the software giant claims are the first-ever legal moves against this kind of rougeware activity. The suits come on the heels of an attack on The New York Times web site, where apparently a Vonage ad turned out to be malware that served readers fake warnings that their computers were infected, along with a link to buy "antivirus software" to clean them up. This type of malware (see also warez) is efficient and lucrative, with 374,000 new versions of rougeware appearing in the second quarter of 2009.