Ad Fraud in 2024: Strategies and New Technologies

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“Half the advertising budget is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half” – these words, attributed either to American retailer John Wanamaker or British industrialist Lord Leverhulme, are often quoted when it comes to the effectiveness of advertising.

Even if the discussion is not about ad fraud, it still cannot be ignored. Fraud poses a serious threat to the online advertising environment. It affects all participants in the ecosystem: advertisers, website owners, advertising platforms, and ordinary users. Fraudsters are like chameleons in the digital space: they adapt and evolve, improving their systems and scaling malicious networks and attacks.

In this article, we will tell you what new products from the world of fraudulent technologies have prepared for advertisers in 2024. Is it possible to do something about this and protect your advertising campaigns?

Contents
1. At a rapid pace: how advertising and fraud are developing
2. Vulnerability Search: Who's the Next Victim?
3. Ad fraud technologies in 2024
4. How to fight new fraudulent technologies
4.1 Complex technologies
4.2. Prevention
4.3. Unified standard
5. Useful methods and technologies for combating fraud
5.1. Continuous monitoring
5.2. Joint efforts
5.3 User Authentication
5.4. Behavioural analysis
5.5. Smart Captcha
5.6 IP and Device Analysis
5.7. Artificial Intelligence
5.8. Cybersecurity systems

At a Rapid Pace: How Advertising and Fraud Are Developing​

Digital advertising is growing at a rapid pace and continues to complicate the digital landscape. New threats and challenges are emerging, most notably malicious clickbots.

According to experts at Juniper Research, advertisers could suffer $100 billion in losses due to ad fraud in 2023. The damage is expected to reach $172 billion by 2028.

In 2024, marketers and advertisers will likely encounter the following fraud tactics:

• device data tampering,
• counterfeit websites and applications,
• hidden advertisements,
• ad layering,
• pixelation.

Cybersecurity experts also cite generative artificial intelligence as a great example. They believe that attackers are investing in AI not only to disguise their fraudulent activities, but also to discover new ways and opportunities to fake traffic.

It is important to note that scammers use AI to generate sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT) in an attempt to reduce the risk of being blocked by cybersecurity systems in order to further empty the pockets of advertisers. That is why website and advertising protection services from bot traffic have long used machine learning and advanced AI technologies for intensive collection of analytical data, collection and grouping of fraudulent and bot behavior patterns, detection of any kind of traffic.

Vulnerability Probing: Who's Next?​

In the modern digital advertising fraud environment, experts have noted the active use of vulnerabilities in systems of various types by attackers. Cybercriminals target not only ordinary devices, but also modern systems and formats that broadcast advertising: Out-of-Home (OOH), audio, Connected TV (CTV), metaverse, etc.

Therefore, it is very important for advertisers to know about them and use all the opportunities to combat attacks on advertising campaigns. It is important to pay attention to the current functionality of anti-fraud tools, whether it is suitable for your purposes, whether it will be effective in relation to your sites and advertising campaigns.

It is worth remembering that scammers always try to be one step ahead and use any means to carry out bot attacks, ultimately spending advertisers' budgets on dummy applications and invalid traffic.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the risk of advertising fraud is to work with well-known sites that you can trust. After all, as we know, most invalid traffic "flows" from little-known industry players. That is why a transparent traffic supply chain, working only with reputable resource owners and partners will help to more effectively combat the actions of intruders and protect advertising budgets.

According to cybersecurity and marketing experts, constant monitoring and adapting strategies to detect fraudulent activity will be crucial in this fight.

Ad Fraud Technologies in 2024​

To identify and prioritize the threat of various ad fraud methods in 2024, advertisers and marketers should focus on complex data analysis, use artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect ad traffic anomalies, and collaborate with industry peers to share insights on common fraud tactics.

According to experts, attackers will target the digital advertising industry using the following technologies and tactics:

• AI Bots: Cross-Device Attacks: Fraudsters will use coordinated attacks on desktop and mobile devices. This approach can make real attribution more difficult.
• Deepfakes: Using synthetic content, including text, images, video, audio, to create realistic fake clicks and impressions.
• New advertising delivery channels: Fraudsters will use new advertising platforms and formats, such as activation of advertising during voice search.

Fraudsters do not stand still. They are always looking for any vulnerabilities and new ways to carry out attacks. Their income depends on it. Therefore, it is important for advertisers to be able to protect their business and find ways to combat modern fraud.

How to fight new fraudulent technologies​

In 2024, ad fraudsters are expected to adapt their tactics to better evade cybersecurity systems and blocking filters. Ad fraud may evolve in the following ways:

Complex technologies​

Attackers use sophisticated technologies and methods to carry out fraudulent attacks. These include, for example, artificial intelligence, which allows bots to imitate human behavior or attack new advertising platforms with unoptimized filters for blocking invalid traffic.

Prevention​

The growing threat of fraud in 2024 forces advertisers and the entire digital community to explore new technologies and strategies that will be crucial in combating it. To do this, along with other methods, it is necessary not to forget about preventive measures.

For example, you can use advanced fraud detection and bot traffic blocking tools that are powered by artificial intelligence. AI algorithms detect fraudulent actions and patterns: click fraud, bot traffic, fake applications, ad view generation, etc.

Advertisers and marketers can use the following preventative measures:

• Multi-layered protection. The expertise of marketing, advertising and cybersecurity professionals can be enhanced by AI-based solutions for comprehensive protection.
• Device verification: Implement robust measures to help identify and block sources of fraudulent traffic.
• Collaboration with reliable platforms. Choose advertising networks that develop their internal filters and systems to combat fraud and invalid traffic.
• Strict verification. Implement strict processes for verifying traffic sources and consider using third-party services that will check the quality of sites participating in the Display Network and YAN.
• Ongoing analysis: Monitor your ad campaigns regularly and analyze metrics to identify any unusual patterns that may indicate fraudulent activity.
• Training and tools. Training teams on the modern methods and technologies that fraudsters use to commit fraud. This approach ensures that everyone is vigilant and prepared to combat fraudulent activities.

By closely monitoring advertising campaigns, advertisers can detect suspicious activity and stop it in time. In addition, proven cybersecurity tools that are confident in the digital advertising market can help advertisers understand how susceptible their campaigns are to fraud. Thanks to this approach, new strategies can be implemented to combat it.

Since ad fraud is not limited to mobile, desktop, and CTV platforms, the entire ad tech industry is responsible for combating it. It is important for advertisers and resource owners to work together to make the process of placing ads and receiving traffic more transparent and trusting. This will reduce risks and will be a sure and confident step in the fight against fraud.

Single standard​

Another method, according to experts, is to standardize advertising processes. It is essential that all parties in the ecosystem can accurately assess real cases of fraud:

• how transparent is the flow of users and data,
• detailing a specific sequence of events,
• identifying the parties involved in the advertising chain.

Attackers are most aggressive on platforms that are characterized by opacity and inaccuracies. However, transparency should not be to the detriment of the user and implemented at the expense of his privacy. For this, other frameworks and policies must be in place.

Useful methods and technologies for combating fraud​

Below we will list some tools and methods that will help you effectively combat fraud.

Continuous monitoring​

Monitor campaign performance and engagement metrics regularly. This will allow you to quickly identify any sudden deviations from standard metrics and find violations.

Joint efforts​

Participate in industry collaboration and share information on new ad fraud tactics to work together to combat fraudsters and prevent them from clicking ads.

User authentication​

Try to set up two-factor authentication on your site. This will ensure that you are interacting with real users and not bots.

Behavioural analysis​

Monitor user behavior. This can help you spot unusual patterns that may indicate fraudulent or bot activity, such as rapid clicks over a short period of time or unnatural engagement rates.

Smart captcha​

Botfaqtor service offers all owners of resources that work on applications to try a new captcha format - Smart captcha. It differs from the standard one in the place of installation and the principle of operation.

While a regular captcha is placed on the entire page or site, Smart Captcha can be placed on any element of a form or page — for example, just on the "Submit" button. It recognizes bots thanks to machine learning and an extensive database of fraudulent patterns.

IP and Device Analysis​

Monitor and analyze IP addresses and device specifications to identify and block suspicious or bot traffic.

Artificial intelligence​

Use AI and machine learning algorithms to analyze traffic patterns, detect anomalies, and identify fraudulent activity in real time.

Cybersecurity systems​

If you don’t have the experience, knowledge, and time to monitor ad campaigns and block bot traffic, seek help from comprehensive cybersecurity systems. In 2024, this will be more useful than ever. First of all, choose those that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect and prevent fraud.