Maware authors have employed Google's paid advertisements to direct surfers to virus infected websites. Hackers are buying paid advertisments for keywords such as Better Business Bereau, BBB, and Cars.com. When surfers click on a hacker's advertisment that shows for a given search, they are routed through an intermidiary website, where malware is downloaded to vulnerable machines, before being redirected to the website they intended to visit. The tactic was first reported last week.
Google began removing known bad links as of late last week. However, experts are doubtful that there is a permanent solution to the problem given the size and automated nature of Google's advertiser platform.