Microsoft filed five civil lawsuits in King County Superior Court in Seattle, against a nasty phenomenon known as “malvertising” (term for malicious online advertising). In general, “malvertising works by camouflaging malicious code as harmless online advertisements. These ads then lead to harmful or deceptive content. For e.g., ads may redirect users to a website that advertises rogue security software, also known as scareware, that falsely claims to detect or prevent threats on the computer. Malvertising may also directly infect a victim’s computer with malicious software like Trojans – programs that can damage data, steal personal information or even bring the users’ computer under the control of a remote operator.” The lawsuits allege that individuals using the business names “Soft Solutions,” “Direct Ad,” “qiweroqw.com,” “ITmeter INC.” and “ote2008.info” used malvertisements to distribute malicious software or present deceptive websites that peddled scareware to unsuspecting Internet users, revealed.