All news with #ad fraud tag

Vane Viper Exposed as Major Malvertising Adtech Actor

🛡️ Infoblox, together with Guardio and Confiant, has identified Vane Viper (also known as Omnatuor) as an adtech platform that has enabled malvertising, ad fraud, and malware distribution for more than a decade. The operator used a web of shell companies and subsidiaries reportedly linked to PropellerAds and AdTech Holding to broker malicious traffic and to run its own campaigns. Researchers describe persistence tactics such as abusing browser push-notification permissions and service workers to spawn headless browser processes that continue to redirect users. Infoblox estimates Vane Viper generated roughly 1 trillion DNS queries across about half of its customer networks over the past year.

Google Removes 224 Android Apps in Large SlopAds Fraud

🚨 Researchers at HUMAN disrupted a global Android ad-fraud operation dubbed "SlopAds" that used 224 malicious apps on Google Play to generate roughly 2.3 billion ad bid requests per day. The apps, downloaded over 38 million times across 228 countries, used obfuscation and steganography to hide a malicious FatModule payload assembled from PNG images. The campaign used Firebase Remote Config and hidden WebViews to deliver continuous fraudulent ad impressions and clicks; Google has removed the identified apps and updated Google Play Protect to warn affected users.

SlopAds Ad-Fraud Ring Exploits 224 Android Apps Globally

🔍 A coordinated ad and click-fraud operation named SlopAds ran 224 Android apps that amassed roughly 38 million downloads across 228 countries, according to HUMAN's Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team. The campaign generated up to 2.3 billion bid requests per day and primarily targeted traffic from the U.S., India, and Brazil. Google removed the offending apps from the Play Store after the investigation, which found sophisticated evasion tactics including steganography and conditional payloads.