The 404bot works through domain spoofing at the browser level by using a brand’s domain to impersonate targeted companies.
Integral Ad Science (IAS), the global leader in digital ad verification, today announced a threat alert on 404bot, a growing bot scheme generating fake browser data and creating fabricated URLs in order to steal advertisers’ media spend. The 404bot capitalizes on unaudited Ads.txt files, the very tool created to help ad buyers avoid illegitimate sellers and prevent unauthorized inventory sales from happening. A sign of the continually growing sophistication of ad fraud, the 404bot scheme was able to bypass many preventative techniques and ensured spoofed URLs would slip under the radar.
The 404bot has affected a range of publishers domains, both high and low profile, many of which have one thing in common: large Ads.txt lists. In recent years, in response to a rise in counterfeit ad inventory, the IAB Technology Lab started the Authorized Digital Sellers initiative, known as Ads.txt. to increase the transparency of inventory flow in the online advertising ecosystem. The implementation of Ads.txt by publishers thus far has shown a dramatic decline in bad actors being able to abuse the ecosystem, but fraudsters are constantly evolving and are now capitalizing on unaudited Ads.txt files.
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Integral Ad Science (IAS), the global leader in digital ad verification, today announced a threat alert on 404bot, a growing bot scheme generating fake browser data and creating fabricated URLs in order to steal advertisers’ media spend. The 404bot capitalizes on unaudited Ads.txt files, the very tool created to help ad buyers avoid illegitimate sellers and prevent unauthorized inventory sales from happening. A sign of the continually growing sophistication of ad fraud, the 404bot scheme was able to bypass many preventative techniques and ensured spoofed URLs would slip under the radar.
The 404bot has affected a range of publishers domains, both high and low profile, many of which have one thing in common: large Ads.txt lists. In recent years, in response to a rise in counterfeit ad inventory, the IAB Technology Lab started the Authorized Digital Sellers initiative, known as Ads.txt. to increase the transparency of inventory flow in the online advertising ecosystem. The implementation of Ads.txt by publishers thus far has shown a dramatic decline in bad actors being able to abuse the ecosystem, but fraudsters are constantly evolving and are now capitalizing on unaudited Ads.txt files.
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