What Are Banners?

Banners Definition

Short definition: Types of advertisements that may show up on the free and unused spaces of the websites you browse in.

Extended definition:

Banners are probably one of the oldest forms of advertisements that are out there. They are essentially types of ads that may appear on one of the corners of the websites you visit and most of them could also include animations and even sounds. Some of them are even interactive and may feature some type of an interaction, like a mini game, for example.

In malware, more specifically PUPs (potentially unwanted programs), these advertisements are utilized for profit by adware programs. There are many kinds of banners and if you have an ad supported software running on your computer is showing ads it could use the banners spaces of the websites you visit to display its own ads. These ads lead to websites which the adware developers are paid to drive traffic to or just receive money by utilizing pay-per-click schemes. The problem with such “dirty” banners is that they could sometimes lead to multiple types of browser redirections and even land you on a malware infection webpage, that could compromise your computer system.

For more definitions, check our Cyber Dictionary.