Bing Chat Allegedly Displays Advertisements Promoting Malware Distribution

 

Bing Chat Allegedly Displays Advertisements Promoting Malware Distribution

Reports have surfaced indicating that Bing Chat's advertising system has been inadvertently displaying harmful advertisements containing phishing links. These fraudulent ads are deceiving users by luring them to websites that distribute malicious software. Researchers from Malwarebytes have uncovered this unsettling issue, raising concerns about the effectiveness of Microsoft's vetting process for ads in Bing Chat.

The Bing AI chatbot, which has been introducing advertisements into its conversations as part of Microsoft's monetization efforts, is now facing allegations of serving dubious ads with malicious links. This practice, known as 'malvertising,' is causing unsuspecting Bing Chat users to unknowingly visit phishing sites that dispense malware.

Bing Chat deploys advertisements in various ways, including incorporating sponsored links into its responses to user queries. When users hover over these links, they typically encounter the ad as the first result, followed by the organic search result. Malwarebytes researchers have discovered that some of these sponsored links can lead users to phishing websites, aiming to persuade them to download malicious applications.

To illustrate this issue, researchers requested download links for a widely recognized network management program called Advanced IP Scanner from Bing Chat. While the chatbot provided the genuine download link as the second result, the sponsored link displayed at the top of the search results directed users to a counterfeit website closely resembling the official Advanced IP Scanner site. This bogus site offered a malicious installer for download. When researchers downloaded and executed the MSI file, it attempted to connect to an external IP address to retrieve the malicious payload.

Although Malwarebytes did not specify the nature of this malicious payload, it could range from relatively benign adware to more sinister threats like spyware or ransomware. Presently, it appears that Microsoft's ad screening process for Bing Chat is either insufficient or bypassed with ease by malicious actors. Malwarebytes has promptly reported these findings to Microsoft, and it remains to be seen whether the company will take action to eliminate these problematic ads from Bing Chat.