Malware that secretly clicks on ads in order to defraud advertisers can serve as a gateway to more serious infections. The Association of National Advertisers says it costs US businesses about $6.3 billion a year in wasted ad money. Clickfraud malware has been showing up a lot this year, says Damballa CTO Stephen Newman. Once the machine is part of the botnet, criminals aren’t going to let go of it easily, he says. The malware tries to be as undetectable as possible while it racks up the fraudulent ad clicks in the background.”]
Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/2940510/report-clickfraud-malware-a-gateway-to-other-threats.html