Massive bot network is draining $6 million a month from online ad industry

10 Apr 2013 • paidcontent.org

via The Brief:

Chameleon, as they’ve named it, uses a network of over 120,000 compromised computers (it targets Windows 7 and Internet Explorer specifically, apparently) to deliver pageviews to a network of around 200 websites; the majority of pageviews to those sites are worthless, generated by a script, but the website impressions are directed in such a way that leads major companies like Bank of America and Mercedes to automatically purchase advertising on them. By tricking them into buying ad space on websites few humans visit, advertisers are wasting upwards of $6 million a month and lining the pockets of the site operators, Spider says.

Is it bad that this makes me smile a little inside?