Complex advertising system enables malvertising

In January 2018, internet users began complaining about a new wave of pop-up ads across the web: hard-to-close, misleading, and malicious, some of them making it impossible for people to read news. While many blamed reputable publishers like the New York Times and the Atlantic for being willing to run such intrusive ads, in fact the fault lies with a complex advertising system of intermediaries and exchanges and precise targeting that obscures the origins and types of ads being supplied. The most unscrupulous ads hijack phones and computers to create simulated mouse clicks and taps on hidden ads that users never see but that still pull revenues from advertisers. An additional new trend known as cryptojacking uses scripts and software to secfetly mine cryptocurrencies using web visitors' CPUs.

https://www.fastcompany.com/40516897/a-new-wave-of-bad-ads-is-hijacking-even-top-tier-websites
Writer: Steven Melendez
Publication: Fast Company