In the field of information security, an affiliate program is a scheme for distributing potentially unwanted or malicious software through legitimate installers. App creators pay file-sharing site owners and affiliate program facilitators for covertly installing their developments on the victim computer. For this purpose, a special boot loader is usually created that not only adds third-party programs to the user’s chosen product, but sends information about the victim computer to the cybercriminals’ C&C server.
Affiliate programs are most commonly used to distribute adware, but due to the lack of control on the part of their facilitators, they can be used to download Trojans and other malware.