Yesterday the FTC and DHS released a joint alert on a major online ad fraud operation known as “3ve”.

3ve is a dangerous operation that already has control over 1.7 million different IP addresses. The criminals behind this operation were able to gain this large amount of control by leveraging victim computers infected with different malwares, such as Boaxxe/Miuref and Kovter. The FTC described the crime by stated “Online advertisers desire premium websites on which to publish their ads and large numbers of visitors to view those ads. 3ve created fake versions of both (websites and visitors), and funneled the advertising revenue to cyber criminals.”

Some suggestions in protecting yourself against 3ve are:

• Use and maintain antivirus software.
• Avoid clicking links in emails.
• Change your passwords.
• Keep your operating system and application software up-to-date.
• Use anti-malware tools.

For more information to better understand 3ve,Boaxxe/Miueref and Kovter malwares, and how to keep yourself safe, read more of the FTC and DHS’s notification on this major online ad fraud operation.