YouTube used for ad spam campaign
Researchers have detected a spam campaign utilizing YouTube to promote unsolicited advertising content.This is a new tactic and is being used as part of a spam campaign targeting Russians, according to researchers at security firm Kaspersky Lab.
The messages contain a link to YouTube that features an unsolicited video advertisement with Russian content promoting industrial buildings real estate, Darya Bronnikova, senior spam analyst at Kaspersky, told SCMagazineUS.com on Thursday. The spam campaign, which does not contain any malware, began on Oct.1 and remains ongoing. Its is not targeting English-speaking users.
In the past, spammers have attempted to lure users to advertising sites by providing links in spam emails for what they claimed were YouTube videos, according to Kaspersky. But this is the first time they are using real videos.
YouTube is likely an attractive tool for spammers because of its extreme popularity, researchers said. A YouTube spokesperson did not respond Thursday to a request for comment.