What are drive-by download attacks?

19th September 2025

How could visiting the wrong website compromise your cyber security?

Most of the time, you have to do something to infect your systems with malware. You might click on a link in a phishing email, or download some malicious hardware – instances like this are frustrating, but if you keep zero trust you stand a chance of avoiding them.

However, drive-by download attacks are different, and these measures may not be another to keep your systems safe – take a look at how they work:

1. To start with, the attacker either infects a real website with malicious code, or creates a fake site designed to look legitimate. Occasionally, adverts on sites can be weaponised with this code too.

2. Drive-by downloads exploit vulnerabilities in browsers, plugins or operating systems, meaning that users don’t need to click anything as they would with a phishing attack – simply visiting the site is enough to trigger an automatic download.

3. The malware is then downloaded and installed in the background: the user may not notice anything unusual. Those with outdated browsers, unpatched operating systems or weak security are most at risk.

4. Now the malware is installed, it can steal data, spy on the user, encrypt files for ransom and can create backdoors for future attacks. What makes this so dangerous is that nothing was clicked: the user remains oblivious while the attack takes place.

With this automated attack posing a significant threat, what can be done to counteract this? Start by keeping everything up to date with the latest security patches, using reliable EDR/XDR tools and using browser extensions that block scripts. Additionally, avoid clicking on suspicious links and ensure websites are legitimate before using them.

If you want to know more about drive-by downloads, please contact Interfuture Security.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/kq2t1k3KlRw