Strengthening Your Network Against Malicious Advertising Services

Online advertising is an essential part of the digital economy, but it is also one of the most exploited channels for cybercriminals. Malicious advertising services or malvertising, use ad networks to deliver harmful content, distribute malware, and facilitate phishing campaigns. Even trusted websites can unknowingly host these threats through compromised or rogue ad servers.  

Bottom line up front:  You can now use ThreatSTOP to block ads.

Threat actors use advertising services to initiate attacks such as:  

• Command and control (C2) communications for botnets  
• Drive-by downloads and exploit delivery  
• Data exfiltration through hidden trackers  
• Redirects to phishing or fake news domains  

With the expansion of programmatic advertising and third-party scripts, businesses face an urgent need for proactive protections to prevent advertising-based threats from slipping into their networks.

How ThreatSTOP Protects Against Malicious Advertising Services

At ThreatSTOP, we know that modern cyber risk requires layered, intelligence-driven protections. Our Security, Intelligence, and Research (SIR) team continuously curates high-fidelity threat intelligence, creating proactive protections for malicious advertising servers across IP and DNS layers.  

Here’s how our products help you stay protected:

Protective DNS (DNS Defense Cloud and DNS Defense)

• Blocks access to malicious ad domains associated with malware, tracking, and phishing  
• Prevents hidden redirects from loading harmful content in browsers and apps  
• Stops botnets and adware from resolving to C2 or data-exfiltration endpoints  
• Provides flexible, automated enforcement using ThreatSTOP's Advertising Services - Domain bundle

IP Defense

• Actively prevents connections to known malicious ad server IPs across routers, firewalls, and cloud environments  
  
• Provides flexible, automated enforcement of ThreatSTOP’s Advertising Services- IP bundle  

By combining IP- and DNS-level protections, ThreatSTOP helps customers disconnect from risky ad networks before they can compromise systems or steal data.

Warning: The nature of ad networks can be volatile.  Quite often hosted on shared IP services.  While we have extensive filtering to reduce the amount of shared hosting IPs in the Advertising Services - IP Bundle, false positives may occur.

Intelligence-Driven Coverage

ThreatSTOP’s SIR team maintains dynamic bundles for Advertising Services – IPs and Domains, regularly updated to block:  

• Mobile and web ad domains delivering malware  
• Tracking services that enable data exfiltration  
• Fake news and disinformation campaigns leveraging ad networks  

This real-time intelligence ensures that your network is shielded against emerging threats without the need for reactive clean-up efforts.

Take Control of Your Digital Exposure

Ad-driven threats don’t just affect end users—they can compromise entire corporate networks. By integrating ThreatSTOP solutions, organizations gain an immediate and automated shield against malvertising, tracking, and data theft.  

For those interested in joining the ThreatSTOP family, or to learn more about our proactive protections for all environments, we invite you to visit our product page. Discover how our solutions can make a significant difference in your digital security landscape. We have pricing for all sizes of customers! Get started with a Demo today!

Connect with Customers, Disconnect from Risks.

MITRE ATT&CK Framework Alignment