Many good guys are using technology and techniques to solve digital ad fraud. However, fighting the bad guys alone is still very difficult. We need to band together as an industry in order to make a dent in the ad fraud problem.

1. Augustine Fou- 1 -
The Good Guys
Fighting Digital Ad Fraud
Dr. Augustine Fou
http://linkd.in/augustinefou
acfou @mktsci .com
June 2014

2. Augustine Fou- 2 -
Spider.io (Google)
Advanced technical analysis that detects fraudulent bot activity
We have previously shown how malware-driven traffic across websites costs display
advertisers millions of dollars per month [1]. We have also shown how easy it is to
generate this type of fake traffic—with fewer than 100 lines of C++ code [2]. In this
post we provide the first case study to show how a well known malware rootkit is
being used by cyber criminals today specifically to defraud online display advertisers.
The case study is a display advertising analogue of a click-fraud study by Miller et al.
[3].
In our investigations into the origins of malware-driven traffic across websites we
discovered a TDSS rootkit with dll32.dll and dll64.dll payloads. TDSS has been
described by Kaspersky as “the most sophisticated threat today” [4]. In this post we
show how hijacked PCs controlled by these TDSS payloads impersonate real website
visitors across target webpages on which display ad inventory is being sold. We show
in this post how this fake traffic is being sold to publishers today through the ClickIce
ad exchange. We show further in this post that some unscrupulous publishers are not
just knowingly buying this fake traffic. They are in fact optimising their webpage
layouts for this fake traffic.
We recorded activity on a hijacked PC controlled by one of these payloads. We have
included this below.
Source: http://www.spider.io/blog/2013/12/cyber-criminals-defraud-display-advertisers-with-tdss/

3. Augustine Fou- 3 -
WhiteOps
Javascript/in-browser tech to detect bot actions on websites
Mr. Tiffany said traffic fraud can be found not only on smaller
sites serving as shells to game ad exchanges, but on the domains
of premium publishers as well.
"What we do know is that it's not just a problem hiding out in the
long tail, it's not just a problem of bogus websites," he said.
"Bots have infiltrated traffic systems across the ecosystem and
end up at some premium, name brand publishers."
Source: AdAge - Premium Publishers Are Getting Victimized By Traffic Fraud, Too Feb 2014

4. Augustine Fou- 4 -
Integral Ad Science
Brand safety via analyzing placements of ads
Source: Integral Ads

5. Augustine Fou- 5 -
DoubleVerify
Ad verification technology – placement, viewability, bot detect
Source: http://www.doubleverify.com/

6. Augustine Fou- 6 -
Solve Media's proprietary TYPE-IN™
advertising guarantees your messaging
won't be ignored—because it can't be.
Our simple, effective and memorable
TYPE-IN™ advertising lets users type
in brand messages where they interact
on web pages and mobile apps—
replacing difficult CAPTCHAs,
allowing people to skip video pre-roll
ads, or unlocking access to valuable
mobile experiences. The result:
superior brand lift. Here's how:
Solve Media
Human detection via CAPTCHAs; ad delivery to real humans
TYPE-IN™ ads:
• Guarantee engagement with your
message every time
• Deliver 1200% greater message
recall than banner ads
• Outperform comScore Brand
Lift norms by an average of 10X
across awareness, association,
favorability, and purchase intent
• Are performance-based, so you
only pay for true engagement.
Impressions that users don't
engage with are free

7. Augustine Fou- 7 -
Pixalate
Fraud reporting and blocking, Fraud Graph and Fraud
Analytics, Predictive Fraud blocking – all in real time

8. Augustine Fou- 8 -
Adometry (Google)
• Helps advertisers manage
and measure their media
spend across both online
and digital media channels
• Unifies data sources to
provide continuous
performance improvement
and yielding returns on ad
spend
• Helps marketers solve big
data challenges and
achieve optimal results via
advanced data mining
techniques

9. Augustine Fou- 9 -
Improvely
• Identifies the source of every signup or sale on website
• Tracks and monitors ads - inspects each click for suspicious activity

10. Augustine Fou- 10 -
PageFair
Measures how many visitors block ads and fixes the problem
by implementing non-intrusive ads just for adblockers

11. Augustine Fou- 11 -
YouTube (Google)
Video ad impressions counted only if user does not click “skip”
With video ads you pay only when
someone chooses to watch your ad, so
you don't waste money advertising to
people who aren't interested in your
business.
Source: http://www.youtube.com/yt/advertise/why-it-works.html

12. Augustine Fou- 12 -
AreYouAHuman
Drag-and-drop actions that reinforce brand message and
prove human user interacting with ad.

13. Augustine Fou- 13 -
Google
Google proactively filters invalid clicks, does not charge
The vast majority of all invalid clicks on AdWords ads are
caught by our online filters. These filters are constantly being
updated and react to a wide variety of traffic patterns and
indications of click fraud attacks. On average, invalid clicks
account for less than 10% of all clicks on AdWords ads. At
our current revenue run rate, the aggregate value of the clicks
that we've identified as suspicious or invalid and excluded
from what we've charged advertisers is in the hundreds of
millions of dollars.
Source: https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2454071

14. Augustine Fou- 14 -
Nielsen/IAB
Consumer Insight – includes: advertising effectiveness, consumerization,
performance management, audience measurements, product innovation, price
and promotion, and reputation management.

15. Augustine Fou- 15 -
Forensiq
Eliminate impression fraud, click fraud, affiliate
fraud, and cookie stuffing

16. Augustine Fou- 16 -
So What?
“The above countermeasures are all good, and
advertisers should continue using them. But they are
not enough. If the good guys fight the fight individually,
there is little chance they can overcome the entire
ecosystem of the bad guys. The good guys need to band
together into their own ecosystem and put the bad guys
on a ‘digital ad fraud equivalent to the National Sex
Offenders Registry’ so we can all fight them at once.”
-- Dr. Augustine Fou

17. Augustine Fou- 17 -
Sizing of
ad fraud
Forensic AnalysisPreliminary Scan
Implementation
Augustine Fou- 17 -
• Technology Tools
• Statistical analysis
Maintenance
Preliminary analysis of
paid campaigns and
analytics to determine
magnitude of the ad
fraud impacting client.
FREE
Creating recommended
list of changes,
including list of sites to
exclude in each ad
channel.
$$$
Subscribe to triangulated,
cross-industry database of
“ad fraud offenders” to
continuously update
blacklists and whitelists.
$
• Budget shifts
• Further optimization
Ad Fraud Forensics Process

18. Augustine Fou- 18 -
Prioritizing Actions
bots /not seen by humans
delivery
viewability
targeting
waste
reduction
improving
optimization
30%
40%
30%

19. Augustine Fou- 19 -
Low Hanging Fruit
The most immediate, direct impact on ROI comes from reducing waste
23% Ad Blocked (wasn’t shown)
(PageFair)
54% Not In View (not seen)
(comScore)
24 – 29% confirmed bot
(Solve Media)
25% On-Target Delivery
(Nielsen)
82% Ignored (not relevant)
(Harris Interactive)

20. Augustine Fou- 20 -
Dr. Augustine Fou – Digital Forensics
“I advise clients on optimizing
advertising across all channels. Using
advanced technical forensic techniques
and custom tchnology tools, we detect
and mitigate ad fraud and waste.”
FORMER CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER, HCG (OMNICOM)
MCKINSEY CONSULTANT
CLIENT SIDE / AGENCY SIDE EXPERIENCE
PROFESSOR AND COLUMNIST
ENTREPRENEUR / SMALL BUSINESS OWNER
PHD MATERIALS SCIENCE (MIT '95) AT AGE 23
@acfou
ClickZ Articles: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-clickz
Slideshares: http://bit.ly/augustine-fou-slideshares
LinkedIn: http://linkd.in/augustinefou

21. Augustine Fou- 21 -
Related Articles
Fake YouTube Videos
By: Augustine Fou, December 2013
Motive and Opportunity for Ad Fraud
By: Augustine Fou, February 2014
Fake Facebook Profiles
By: Augustine Fou, Dec 2013
Fake Twitter Accounts
By: Augustine Fou, August 2013
Display Fraud 101 (video)
By: Augustine Fou, Feb 2014
Augustine Fou- 21 -
ROI Case for Solving Ad Fraud
By: Augustine Fou January 2014
Digital Ad Fraud Briefing
By: Augustine Fou December 2013
How Display Fraud Works
By: Augustine Fou, May 2013
How Click Fraud Works
By: Augustine Fou, November 2013
The Magnitude of Digital Ad Fraud
By: Augustine Fou, November 2013