Is it possible to compromise Bing to redirect user to a malware?

Question

I just got a new laptop and the first thing I wanted was to install Chrome.

I opened IE and searched for "google chrome" in Bing.

The first result was an ad with the link pointing to www.Google.com/Chrome like below

I clicked the first link and to my surprise it opened a suspicious site http://www.thesoftwarelive.com/chrome/

Is it actually possible to compromise Bing to display seemingly innocent (trusted) URL, but redirect user to a malicious site?

I have just reported that on MS site, where one of the options was The display URL I saw in the ad does not match the landing page. However, it is frustrating how many non-tech savvy people might have fallen for that.

Answer 1

That's not the way it happened.

There are cases of ad networks presenting malware, but generally the ad network has been fooled. The hacker generally creates a innocent site, and buys ads from a network (Bing can be one). So, as soon as he gets traffic coming from Bing, he changes the site to install malware.

So, Bing was not compromised, but the site was changed after being submitted. Bing, Google, Yahoo and others scan the sites they point to, searching for malware. But they cannot find every instance of this attack.