Microsoft Updating Their Adware Objective Criteria To Protect Users From ‘Man-In-The-Middle’ Attacks

?Last year, Microsoft announced changes to their criteria around Adware designed to ensure that users maintain control of their experience. To protect users from ‘man-in-the-middle’ attacks and to keep the intent of their adware policy, Microsoft is updating their Adware objective criteria to require that programs that create advertisements in browsers must only use the browsers’ supported extensibility model for installation, execution, disabling, and removal.

Ad injection software has evolved, and is now using a variety of ‘man-in-the-middle’ (MiTM) techniques. Some of these techniques include injection by proxy, changing DNS settings, network layer manipulation and other methods. All of these techniques intercept communications between the Internet and the PC to inject advertisements and promotions into webpages from outside, without the control of the browser. Our intent is to keep the user in control of their browsing experience and these methods reduce that control.

Programs that will fail to comply will be detected and removed and enforcement starts on March 31, 2016.