MGID deepens partnership with GeoEdge to Enhance Ad Security
MGID, a worldwide advertising platform, has deepened its cooperation with GeoEdge. The latter is the foremost source of ad security and superior solutions for the online and mobile advertising market. The relationship, which has been successful for years, allowed for the identification of numerous different types of cloaking techniques over tens of thousands of instances, which led to growth. The compliance team at MGID can be confident that campaigns launched through its platform are secured using cutting-edge advertising technology thanks to this confirmed, long-term partnership with GeoEdge.
MGID’s comprehensive security suite:
MGID’s security solutions provide:
- Latest threat recognition algorithm – GeoEdge regularly updates algorithms for monitoring current and potential threats, concentrating on verticals that the compliance team at MGID has designated as critical. This makes it possible to anticipate violations and respond to them right away.
- Grouping violations using artificial intelligence (AI) – AI models create violation scenarios to foresee banned actions at the content and ad creation campaign stage so that MGID’s AI-generated creatives are compliant by default.
- Amplifying manual verification resources – Specialized regional teams check the status of rotating advertising content 24/7, paying consideration to even the slightest details of violations, like stolen design elements and made-up remarks.
- No tolerance for malware and malevolent material – MGID always blocks or further examines any content that may include malware, malicious intent, or phishing techniques before it is allowed to enter the system.
- Strong authentication process – Before beginning any activity on the MGID platform, all clients must go through personal verification and provide the necessary paperwork. These procedures are known as KYC (Know Your Customer) and KYB (Know Your Business).
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Here’s what they said
Sergii Denysenko, CEO of MGID said,
Digital advertising is caught in an endless arms race between legitimate actors and fraudsters that siphon ad spend from the supply chain, impacting advertisers, publishers, and users. To protect our clients and the wider open web, we seek partnerships with leading innovators, such as GeoEdge, in the fight against deceptive and fraudulent ads. The results of our collaboration so far speak for themselves, and we look forward to our continued work together.
Amnon Siev, CEO of GeoEdge commented,
Escalating threats from malicious actors present persistent challenges across the entire digital advertising supply chain. As these cyber adversaries refine their tactics, MGID leverages GeoEdge’s insights into the threat environment, empowering MGID to combat malvertising and protect its partners from cybercriminal activities.
About MGID
Brands may reach distinctive local audiences at scale with the support of the TAG-certified global advertising platform MGID. It serves high-quality, pertinent advertisements in brand-safe, fraud-protected environments using AI-based technology that prioritizes privacy. To provide a good user experience, the organization offers a number of ad types, such as native, display, and video. As a result, publishers can keep their audiences and monetize them, while advertising may increase performance and exposure. Through collaborations with GeoEdge, Pixalate, and AdSecure, MGID uses a combination of AI and manual evaluation. Furthermore, it also monitors techniques to identify and eliminate advertising that is against company regulations, damaging to users, and generally detrimental to the ad ecosystem. With 25 thousand reputable publishers, MGID reaches 900 million unique readers each month and generates 200 billion ad impressions.
About GeoEdge
The goals of GeoEdge are to uphold customer satisfaction and the integrity of the digital advertising ecosystem. So that publishers can concentrate on their business success, GeoEdge’s cutting-edge security solutions guarantee high ad quality and confirm that websites deliver a clean, safe, and engaging user experience. GeoEdge is used by publishers all over the world to block harmful and subpar adverts from reaching their audience. By utilizing GeoEdge, publishers can boost customer loyalty, safeguard their brand’s reputation, and optimize ad revenue without worrying about quality. Without compromising revenue, GeoEdge protects digital businesses from intrusive, harmful, rude, and inappropriate adverts.
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VeraViews – Alkimi Join Forces to Revolutionize Digital Advertising
VeraViews and Alkimi Exchanges, two industry leaders in the blockchain-based advertising space, have announced a new collaborative effort. VeraViews is an open ledger platform that uses the patented “Proof of View” (PoV) fraud identification technology. Furthermore, it is an extension of the Verasity system. Alkimi Exchange, however, is a decentralized ad exchange marketplace. The two assert that their partnership has the power to reinvent what is possible in digital advertising, especially in the fight against inefficiencies and a lack of transparency in the supply chain network. The partnership will bring fresh audiences and publications to Alkimi Exchange marketers as well as improve the revenue potential for publishers on the VeraViews platform.
We are thrilled to announce our latest partnership with @verasitytech!
"Publishers using the VeraViews adstack can now access demand and monetise through Alkimi Exchange, and Alkimi Exchange’s advertising partners can access new publishers and audiences through VeraViews."… https://t.co/tMEe06oxDi
— Alkimi Exchange (@AlkimiExchange) August 22, 2023
First-of-its-kind integration
Ad exchanges are computerized marketplaces where marketers may place real-time bids and buy publisher’s ad impressions, facilitating more effective and tailored digital advertising transactions. Ad exchanges make it possible for a vibrant and competitive market to buy and sell online advertising inventory, which is necessary for VeraViews’ publishing partners to successfully monetize their websites. For years, participants in the digital advertising industry have demanded more open procedures. Despite tracking capabilities and sophisticated ad networks, advertisers rarely know where their ads are placed. This raises questions about ROI and brand safety.
The collaboration between the two blockchain-based advertising giants plans to address these long-standing problems. It will be done through the integration of VeraView’s “Proof of View” (PoV) technology into Alkimi Exchange’s advertising platform. By utilizing VeraView’s ad stack, Alkimi publishers can reach new certified audiences across the VeraView network. Additionally, VeraViews has access to fresh demand monetization via the network of advertising partners of Alkimi Exchange. Alkimi Exchange will be able to learn where Proof of View is being used throughout its supply chain to block bots and illegitimate traffic.
Broader Impact on Blockchain-based Advertising
The agreement might represent a first step in clearing up some of the most vexing supply chain issues facing the advertising sector. In reality, a survey by the Guardian said that a projected 25 percent of all online ad views were generated by bots; however, other estimates put the overall proportion of fraudulent traffic significantly higher. VeraViews has long advocated for technological solutions that address fraudulent advertising and other concerns. Moreover, it has been a pioneer in using technology to combat enduring problems in digital advertising. The company’s software stack is already used by a number of significant view hosting and publishing platforms.
If the VeraViews and Alkimio Exchange incorporation succeeds in reducing fraud and increasing transparency, it may serve as a template for more widespread use in the booming blockchain industry. This might subsequently transform a sector of the economy that is anticipated to surpass $1 trillion annually in the near future.
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Here’s what they said
Ben Putley, CEO & Co-Founder of Alkimi, stated:
We at Alkimi Exchange and VeraViews are excited to announce our partnership, bridging the gap between advertising technology and cryptocurrency. By uniting our strengths, we’re pioneering an innovative synergy that will offer unparalleled efficiency, transparency, and security in the ad tech industry. Our collaboration symbolises not just a mutual understanding of our industry’s future, but also a shared commitment to drive sustainable growth, forge new pathways, and redefine the boundaries of what’s possible. Together, we are charting a course towards a more integrated, responsive, and intelligent digital advertising landscape.
David Murray, Demand Director at VeraViews, said:
The decentralized advertising ecosystem is still nascent, and we’re delighted that VeraViews and Alkimi Exchange have found ways to leverage our innovative technology solutions in synergy, working together to achieve our common goal of bringing trust and transparency to the programmatic advertising supply chain.
About VeraViews
VeraViews is a patented Proof of View (PoV) fraud detection technology-based open ledger advertising platform. It is the most effective and auditable solution for avoiding ad fraud since it offers clear invalid traffic (IVT) tracking for publishers and auditable campaign data for brands. VeraViews ensures that real people see the ads. It helps increase campaign ROI for marketers and shortens the time taken for publishers to get payment.
About Alkimi Exchange
Alkimi Exchange is a decentralized alternative to the antiquated, ineffective traditional programmatic ad exchanges. Its goal is to re-establish value between advertisers, publishers, and users. They offer the fastest, infinitely scalable solution with zero fraud, low transaction costs, and total end-to-end transparency. It is possible thanks to Alkimi exchange, a bespoke layer 2-scaling system on the Ethereum network designed exclusively for advertising.
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IAS Partners With Pinterest Over Fraud And Viewability Measurement Reporting
Digital ad verification provider Integral Ad Service( IAS) has partnered with Pinterest to able to deliver marketers access to viewability and fraud measurement reporting that covers its mobile in-app campaign.
IAS mentioned that its reporting includes standard Pinterest ads and video ads for in-app inventory, all updated on a daily basis.
This new integration will help advertisers to have access to viewability and invalid traffic monitoring and reporting across promoted pins and videos as well as Independent, third-party reporting by IAS and a global measurement that allows a holistic view across any brand’s entire Pinterest campaign.
With this announcement, Pinterest is observing an all-time high level of user engagement as well as people are searching for creative solutions to ‘life-at-home’ in this pandemic. The searches on the platform for “work from home” are up 1,411% and searches for “children’s activities” are up 4,055%, globally.
IAS also noted that 82% of users access the platform via mobile devices, and it is even more significant for advertisers to measure mobile campaigns on Pinterest accurately.
With measurement being critical to evaluating and optimizing ad quality and related media spend, Lisa Utzschneider, CEO of IAS said,
“IAS is excited to partner with Pinterest to offer marketers a mobile viewability and fraud measurement solution that works in-app, where people are engaging.”
“This partnership helps provide the transparency that marketers need to optimize their campaigns on the popular network.”
Read more: IAS Issues Threat Alert Regarding The Latest Digital Ad fraud Scheme
IAS Issues Threat Alert Regarding The Latest Digital Ad fraud Scheme
The industry’s key weapon against ad fraud has been compromised, allowing fraudsters to pilfer media spend. Ad. txt files were ideally launched three years ago by the IAB’s Tech Lab to help the ad industry combat ad fraud but instead has become a conduit for it.
It is an initiative to improve transparency in programmatic advertising. The tool was introduced by IAB for publishers and distributors to list all companies that are authorized to sell ads. Essentially, it will also show when an advertiser buys ads directly from the publishers or authorized ad tech vendors and also highlight those sites that do not use an ads.txt file.
However, in reality, since the ad.txt tool launched, fraudsters have exploited the opportunity where the buyers do not check the lists with bots that generate fake browser data and create fabricated URLs in order to steal advertiser’s media spend. 404bot is the perfect example of this type of fraud.
This botnet involves a practice called domain spoofing, where the fraudster impersonates the publisher’s webpage. However, the 404bot holds no inventory. Domain spoofing allows slipping nonexisting URL into approved domain lists. To avoid any detection, the fake URL is a combination of two existing URLs.
Image Credit: Campaign India
Now spoof domains are receiving ad calls, the challenge is to deceive the audience to ‘ watch’ the video ads. For this, 404 takes advantage of a Bunitu Trojan. The Trojan infects internet users with malware that allows fraudsters to connect to their devices. Once connected, the fraudster can use the infected ID to generate ad calls that appear from legitimate sources. The whole process of buying ads from the seller and inventory appears to be legitimate while there is nothing in reality.
Integral Ad Science(IAS) has uncovered the bot scheme that has affected many high and low publishers which have one thing in common: large ads txt list and has stolen at least US$15 million of advertiser’s money- a number that continues to grow.
The fraud scheme is similar to 3ve and Hyphbot, the main signature of the 404bot is extensive domain-spoofing, where URL is fabricated at browser level which means the data from the browsers is fake. 404bot has been building networks gradually over the years ensuring that they are not easily detectable to the human eye.
Botnet’s Origin:
The IAS Threat Lab first spotted a rise in domain spoofing activity in 2018. Evgeny Shmelkov, head of the IAS Threat Lab said,
“We detect bots and protect our customers from their effects every day. The 404bot has been active since 2018 and its unchecked growth now warrants industry action.”
In September 2018, the botnet activity increased and remained high till the start of November 2018, when it abruptly dropped. However, around the same time another botnet, 3ve was taken down by cybersecurity and ad verification firm White Ops. IAS assumed both events were related, but the timing of 3ve takedown didn’t match with the drop in activity of the botnet it was monitoring. After 5 months of low activity, 404bot traffic increased again in mid-April, 2019 and then dropped in September 2019.
Image Credit: Campaign India
In its white paper, IAS explains,
“We can only hypothesise the true reason for this subsequent drop in activity of the botnet, but based on/ previous observation, we know that 404bot activity could spike again at any time.”
Conservative estimates suggest that 404bot’s activity between April 2019 to September 2019 affected over 600 million ads. It has affected over 1.5 billion video ads across the U.K, the U.S.A, Canada, and Australia. Assuming video ads price in a single-digit dollar, an average individual fraudster makes at least $15 million a year.
Drawbacks of Ads.Text files
The 404bot capitalizes on unaudited ads.text files and its vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, ads.txt files continue to be longer and become an easier place for fraudsters to hide. The longer the ads.txt list, the harder to audit for unauthorized sellers. According to IAS, the only link between all publishers that were impersonated by the bot was that they all had long lists of ad tech vendors in their ad.txts files. Evgeny Shmelkov said,
“This discovery left us wondering if publishers were not properly vetting resellers, or if they were simply using Ads.txt on their websites as a formality. The former, if true, defeats the core purpose of Ads.txt’s existence.”
“We are learning from this bot that it is crucial to continuously audit and update Ads.txt files.”
The IAS threat lab detects bots regularly and to reduce unnecessary panic, it refrains to divulge details from every discovery. However, due to no sign of 404bot shutting down, IAS is sharing details to help other players in the ad-tech ecosystem to clean up the inventory. They are closely working with publishers and IAB Tech Lab to improve the ads.txt model to limit frauds like 404bot.
Meanwhile, Dan Larden, managing partner of product and partnerships at programmatic agency Infectious Media said, companies buying and selling media aren’t set up properly to audit any trade. He further added,
“Programmatic advertisers need to be pushing ad tech vendors for more log-level data so that they can see where the wastage is on the media that’s being bought.”
