Your uncle’s frozen Mac says it’s infected after viewing a Google ad. Now what?
Executive Take
This scam rides on trusted ad networks, not employee mistakes, so blocking it needs network-level filtering, not just user training. Any company relying on Google's ad verification alone is exposed.
Executive Summary
Security firm Netskope found a tech support scam spreading through Google ads on major sites like maps, weather, and sports pages. The ads froze Windows and Mac screens, urging victims to call a fake support line and pay fees or share personal data. Between August 31 and September 14, users from 619 customer organizations clicked the ads, mostly in the US, Japan, and Australia. Netskope blocked all attempts, tracking over 250 ad campaign IDs across 284 publisher sites.
Why It Matters
Technology and cybersecurity leaders should care because this attack bypasses typical phishing defenses by exploiting legitimate ad networks on trusted sites employees visit daily. It shows ad-based malvertising is a growing enterprise attack surface that firewalls alone won't catch.