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Anonymous
Next-Level 'MethBot' Ad-Fraud Scam Cost Advertisers At Least $3 Million Per Day, WhiteOps Says 2016-12-21 04:08:34 Post No. 93535
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Next-Level 'MethBot' Ad-Fraud Scam Cost Advertisers At Least $3 Million Per Day, WhiteOps Says 2016-12-21 04:08:34 Post No. 93535
[Report] Image search: [Google]
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Next-Level 'MethBot' Ad-Fraud Scam Cost Advertisers At Least $3 Million Per Day, WhiteOps Says
Anonymous
2016-12-21 04:08:34
Post No. 93535
[Report]
http://adage.com/article/digital/ad-fraud-scheme-cost-advertisers-3-million-day/307235/
>A complex ad fraud scheme has been siphoning $3 million to $5 million per day since October from the largest U.S. brands and media companies, making it the most profitable and advanced operation seen by the industry to date, according to a new report from WhiteOps, an anti-ad fraud security firm.
>By comparison, other large, well-known ad-fraud attacks garnered $200,000 to $900,000 a day, WhiteOps said.
>A group of Russian hackers were behind the attack, creating more than half a million fake users and 250,000 fake websites to pull off the scheme, according to WhiteOps. Bots, which are used to mimic human behavior to dupe advertisers in paying for impressions never seen by humans, were used to view some 300 million video ads a day, according to the report.
>Collectively dubbed "Methbot" by WhiteOps, the bots scammed publications like the Huffington Post, The Economist, Fortune, ESPN, Vogue, CBS Sports and Fox News, the company said. Overall, about 6,000 publishers were hit, according to the report. Social media websites weren't immune to the attack, either, as platforms like Facebook were also hit, it said.
>WhiteOps said it would not release the names of the brands affected by the attack.
>The Methbot operation targeted the most expensive advertising on the internet: full-sized video ads served in full view on name-brand sites to users who were logged in to social media and showed signs of engagement like mouse movement, WhiteOps said. The operation was able to avoid notice for weeks by mimicking many of the telltale signals of human interaction monitored by advertisers and anti-fraud firms.
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related:
http://go.whiteops.com/rs/179-SQE-823/images/WO_Methbot_Operation_WP.pdf
more coverage:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/12/20/methbot-biggest-ad-fraud-busted
>'Biggest Ad Fraud Ever': Hackers Make $5M A Day By Faking 300M Video Views
http://mashable.com/2016/12/20/ad-fraud-methbot-russian-cybercrime/
>Inside 'Methbot': The massive Russian cybercrime operation stealing millions from advertisers
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For people who don't understand how it worked
>hackers buy a bunch of domains and set up URLs within them that appear to be legit brands, but only host a video ad
>hackers game the advertising bots that determine where to purchase space for the brands the bots need to promote
>hackers use the revenue to support server farms of Methbots, which keep the domains looking legit (to things that track mouse movement and clickthroughs, not anyone who would actually look at the website) so the adbots keep purchasing adspace on those fake URLs
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>>93535
>A group of Russian hackers
Of course
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>>93535
>A group of Russian hackers
This is Vlad's new plan for how to pay for all the PAK FA 5th-gen fighters.
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>>93540
neat
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>>93535
Hey now, you gotta address the elephant in the room here. Thats uh... kinda fucking awesome. Scam shit-teir companies of money. Epic.
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>>93535
Fucking hell, this is bloody brilliant. Well done!
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>>93628
Right?? Fuckin robin hood!!
They should donate some proceeds to 4chan and remove our advertising
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>>93535
I don't know what to believe on this one. It's been a common knowledge that advertising on facebook means you WILL be paying for click-throughs and never get anything actually through for at least a fraction of your advertising. I can see why they would jump at the oportunity to clear themselves of the blame.
On the other hand russian autists are just better at being autistic.
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>>93628
Agreed. Ripping off advertisers is sweet irony.
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>>93535
>Russian hackers
prooofs
need proofs
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