Possibly millions of people have been exposed to a malware program which tried getting into your computer. When they had some alone time a couple of weeks back, they could very well have been the target of hacker group called the KovCoreG group. They attacked 38th biggest website in the world, which you might or might not know, is www.pornhub.com. But what happened, and why did they do it? Let’s look further into it!

How did this happen
KovCoreG is known for distributing ad fraud malware, malware which infects your computer through an online advertisement. This attack was targeted at victims in different parts of the world. From the United States to Canada, but also the UK and as far as Australia. They abused the network of the Traffic Junky adverting company. (These are the companies that sell advertisement places on websites.) They showed you an advertisement, and when you clicked on it the program would check your geographical location and your internet service provider. If you would pass these filters, the program would prompt you for a critical update of your browser. Depending on which browser you used (Firefox, Chrome or Edge/Internet Explorer) the malware send you the corresponding prompt. Because the malware did not use any software exploits, you had to download the software yourself and open it on your computer. From that moment on, your computer is infected.

What is in it for them?
You could wonder, what is in it for them? What does the malware do? The malware itself does not do anything that harmful to your computer. One important thing it does do is click on fake advertisement on obscure websites, which in turns earns the programmers (KovCoreG) a profit. Installing the malware itself does not result in any profit, what the program does afterwards is where the money is made.

Why it is that bad
In general malware is rather harmful to computers. Combining sophisticated malware with convincing social engineering techniques makes the threat even higher. Combining this with a website that on annual basis 26 billion people visit to play a flute solo, it becomes a big threat. Proofpoint expects millions of people have been exposed, but does not provide an estimated for the actual people affected by the malware.

Prevention
Let’s talk about prevention. What can you, or society, do to prevent this from happening? A good way to start is to not believe everything you see online and install all the software you see popping up on your screen. The second solution is installing anti-virus software. But you probably already knew these things, so what can we do in the bigger scheme? First of all, cyber security is a hot topic in current politics. Even the to-be Dutch government raised their annual budget to 95 million euro. Deloitte recently posted a research report where they calculated that the yearly cost for cyber security are 10 billion euro alone in The Netherlands. The main risks are at the small- and medium-sized enterprises. In my option, both the government and companies should place cyber security higher on the corporate agenda. Creating a culture where security stand first, and adding two-step verification are quick fixes, but go a long way in combatting cyber security.

Sources used:

NU.nl. (2017, October 10). Malware richtte zich op miljoenen Pornhub-gebruikers . Retrieved on October 11, 2017, from https://www.nu.nl/internet/4958903/malware-richtte-zich-miljoenen-pornhub-gebruikers.html

Pheijffer, M. (2017, September 17). Op gebied van cybersecurity mag rol van overheid wel wat groter worden. Retrieved on October 11, 2017, from https://fd.nl/opinie/1220206/op-gebied-van-cybersecurity-mag-rol-van-overheid-wel-wat-groter-worden

Proofpoint. (2017, October 6). Kovter Group malvertising campaign exposes millions to potential ad fraud malware infections. Retrieved on October 10, 2017, from https://www.proofpoint.com/us/threat-insight/post/kovter-group-malvertising-campaign-exposes-millions-potential-ad-fraud-malware

RTL Nieuws. (2017, October 10). Regeerakkoord van kabinet-Rutte III: alle plannen op een rij. Retrieved on October 10, 2017, from https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/nederland/politiek/regeerakkoord-van-kabinet-rutte-iii-alle-plannen-op-een-rij

Traffic junky. (n.d.). Online Ad Network: Advertising & Publishing Solutions. Retrieved on October 11, 2017, from https://www.trafficjunky.com/

Last weekend a Dutch financial newspaper (Het Financieele Dagblad) reported an opinion of professor Arnold Smulders of the University of Amsterdam. He states that internet firms should pay taxes bases on the number of clicks, instead of the intellectual property which they hold.

The reason for stating this was that the French newspaper Le Parisien reported that Airbnb paid less then €100.000 in taxes in France last year, even though 10 million users used the platform. The French minister of finance noted that they expect internet companies like Airbnb contribute accordingly to the French tax system. The whole of Europe faces this problem. Value is created in Europe, but minimal taxes are paid.

The “value created” discussion is on different level, as of now the value is created in the country that holds the intellectual property, in this case the United States. Smulders proposes a system where clicks on a website are seen as value, because this gives the internet companies their information and on its turn their value. Taxes would be bases on this theoretical value, so all clicks in The Netherlands are bases on the Dutch tax system.

At first glance this system sounds promising, taxes are paid where value is added. I doubt however, is value really added? The clicks are just data, not information. Data becomes (useable) information when insights into it are given. These insights are given by algorithms created by these internet companies. Based on this point of view, the current tax system works as intended.

If we compare internet companies to production companies, we might come close to an ideal situation where value added is evenly distributed. One could look at the clicks as raw materials for the production process, and the algorithms as the machines used to produce information. The algorithms follow the intellectual property valuation, the clicks are valued in the specific countries where they are made. A simple input, throughput, output could then be calculated. The problem this causes is the valuation of clicks, how much if your click worth…?

Source: https://fd.nl/economie-politiek/1218031/geef-elke-klik-een-waarde-reken-daar-btw-over