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Category — ad fraud
'Konfety' Ad Fraud Uses 250+ Google Play Decoy Apps to Hide Malicious Twins

'Konfety' Ad Fraud Uses 250+ Google Play Decoy Apps to Hide Malicious Twins

Jul 16, 2024 Mobile Security / Online Security
Details have emerged about a "massive ad fraud operation" that leverages hundreds of apps on the Google Play Store to perform a host of nefarious activities. The campaign has been codenamed Konfety – the Russian word for Candy – owing to its abuse of a mobile advertising software development kit (SDK) associated with a Russia-based ad network called CaramelAds . "Konfety represents a new form of fraud and obfuscation, in which threat actors operate 'evil twin' versions of 'decoy twin' apps available on major marketplaces," HUMAN's Satori Threat Intelligence Team said in a technical report shared with The Hacker News. While the decoy apps, totaling more than 250 in number, are harmless and distributed via the Google Play Store, their respective "evil twins" are disseminated through a malvertising campaign designed to facilitate ad fraud, monitor web searches, install browser extensions, and sideload APK files code onto users' d...
Hackers Using Google Ads to Spread FatalRAT Malware Disguised as Popular Apps

Hackers Using Google Ads to Spread FatalRAT Malware Disguised as Popular Apps

Feb 16, 2023 Ad Fraud / Malware
Chinese-speaking individuals in Southeast and East Asia are the targets of a new rogue Google Ads campaign that delivers remote access trojans such as FatalRAT to compromised machines. The attacks involve purchasing ad slots to appear in Google search results and direct users looking for popular applications to rogue websites hosting trojanized installers, ESET said in a report published today. The ads have since been taken down. Some of the spoofed applications include Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Telegram, WhatsApp, LINE, Signal, Skype, Electrum, Sogou Pinyin Method, Youdao, and WPS Office. "The websites and installers downloaded from them are mostly in Chinese and in some cases falsely offer Chinese language versions of software that is not available in China," the Slovak cybersecurity firm  said , adding it observed the attacks between August 2022 and January 2023. A majority of the victims are located in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, followed by Malaysia, Japan, ...
How AI Is Transforming IAM and Identity Security

How AI Is Transforming IAM and Identity Security

Nov 15, 2024Machine Learning / Identity Security
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has begun revolutionizing Identity Access Management (IAM), reshaping how cybersecurity is approached in this crucial field. Leveraging AI in IAM is about tapping into its analytical capabilities to monitor access patterns and identify anomalies that could signal a potential security breach. The focus has expanded beyond merely managing human identities — now, autonomous systems, APIs, and connected devices also fall within the realm of AI-driven IAM, creating a dynamic security ecosystem that adapts and evolves in response to sophisticated cyber threats. The Role of AI and Machine Learning in IAM AI and machine learning (ML) are creating a more robust, proactive IAM system that continuously learns from the environment to enhance security. Let's explore how AI impacts key IAM components: Intelligent Monitoring and Anomaly Detection AI enables continuous monitoring of both human and non-human identities , including APIs, service acc...
Facebook Sued Hong Kong Firm for Hacking Users and Ad Fraud Scheme

Facebook Sued Hong Kong Firm for Hacking Users and Ad Fraud Scheme

Dec 06, 2019
Following its efforts to take legal action against those misusing its social media platform, Facebook has now filed a new lawsuit against a Hong Kong-based advertising company and two Chinese individuals for allegedly abusing its ad platform to distribute malware and Ad fraud. Facebook filed the lawsuit on Thursday in the Northern District of California against ILikeAd Media International Company Ltd. as well as a Chinese software developer and a marketing director working for the firm, Chen Xiao Cong and Huang Tao. All three defendants have been alleged to have deceived people into installing malware on their systems, enabling them to compromise user's Facebook accounts and then using those hacked accounts to advertise counterfeit goods and diet pills—which is clearly in violation of Facebook's Terms and Advertising Policies. "The suit seeks to hold accountable ILikeAd Media International Company Ltd. and Chen Xiao Cong and Huang Tao for creating the malware, tr...
cyber security

Creating, Managing and Securing Non-Human Identities

websitePermisoCybersecurity / Identity Security
A new class of identities has emerged alongside traditional human users: non-human identities (NHIs). Permiso Security's new eBook details everything you need to know about managing and securing non-human identities, and strategies to unify identity security without compromising agility.
Two Widely Used Ad Blocker Extensions for Chrome Caught in Ad Fraud Scheme

Two Widely Used Ad Blocker Extensions for Chrome Caught in Ad Fraud Scheme

Sep 20, 2019
Two widely used Adblocker Google Chrome extensions , posing as the original — AdBlock and uBlock Origin — extensions on Chrome Web Store, have been caught stuffing cookies in the web browser of millions of users to generate affiliate income from referral schemes fraudulently. There's no doubt web extensions add a lot of useful features to web browsers, making your online experience great and aiding productivity, but at the same time, they also pose huge threats to both your privacy and security. Being the most over-sighted weakest link in the browser security model, extensions sit between the browser application and the Internet — from where they look for the websites you visit and subsequently can intercept, modify, and block any requests, based on the functionalities they have been designed for. Apart from the extensions which are purposely created with malicious intent , in recent years we have also seen some of the most popular legitimate Chrome and Firefox extensions g...
Alleged Russian Hacker Pleads Not Guilty After Extradition to United States

Alleged Russian Hacker Pleads Not Guilty After Extradition to United States

Jan 21, 2019
A Russian hacker indicted by a United States court for his involvement in online ad fraud schemes that defrauded multiple American companies out of tens of millions of dollars pleaded not guilty on Friday in a courtroom in Brooklyn, New York. Aleksandr Zhukov , 38, was arrested in November last year by Bulgarian authorities after the U.S. issued an international warrant against him, and was extradited by Bulgaria to the United States on Thursday (January 18, 2019). He is currently in prison in Brooklyn. In November 2018, law enforcement and multiple security firms collaborated to shut down one of the largest digital ad-fraud schemes, which they dubbed 3ve , that infected over 1.7 million computers worldwide to generate fake clicks used to defraud digital advertisers for years and made tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Pronounced "Eve," the online ad-fraud campaign was believed to have been active since at least 2014, but its fraudulent activity grew last yea...
FBI Shuts Down Multimillion Dollar – 3ve – Ad Fraud Operation

FBI Shuts Down Multimillion Dollar – 3ve – Ad Fraud Operation

Nov 28, 2018
Google, the FBI, ad-fraud fighting company WhiteOps and a collection of cyber security companies worked together to shut down one of the largest and most sophisticated digital ad-fraud schemes that infected over 1.7 million computers to generate fake clicks used to defraud online advertisers for years and made tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Dubbed 3ve (pronounced "Eve"), the online ad-fraud campaign is believed to have been active since at least 2014, but its fraudulent activity grew last year, turning it into a large-scale business and earning their operators more than $30 million in profit. Meanwhile, the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) also unsealed Tuesday a 13-count indictment against 8 people from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine who allegedly ran this massive online advertising scheme. The 3ve botnet scheme deployed different tactics, such as creating their own botnets, creating fake versions of both websites and visitors, selling fraudulent...
8 Popular Android Apps Caught Up In Million-Dollar Ad Fraud Scheme

8 Popular Android Apps Caught Up In Million-Dollar Ad Fraud Scheme

Nov 27, 2018
Cheetah Mobile —a prominent Chinese app company, known for its popular utility apps like Clean Master and Battery Doctor—and one of its subsidiary Kika Tech have allegedly been caught up in an Android ad fraud scheme that stole millions of dollars from advertisers. According to app analytics firm Kochava , 7 Android apps developed by Cheetah Mobile and 1 from Kika Tech with a total 2 billion downloads on Google Play Store have been accused of falsely claiming the credits for driving the installation of new apps in order to claim a fee or bounty. Many mobile application developers generate revenue by promoting and recommending the installation of other apps inside their apps for a fee or a bounty that typically ranges from $0.50 to $3.00. To know which advertisement recommended the app and should get the credit, the newly installed app does a "lookback" immediately after it is opened for the first time to see from where the last click was originated and attribute the ...
Nasty Android Malware that Infected Millions Returns to Google Play Store

Nasty Android Malware that Infected Millions Returns to Google Play Store

Jan 24, 2017
HummingBad – an Android-based malware that infected over 10 million Android devices around the world last year and made its gang an estimated US$300,000 per month at its peak – has made a comeback. Security researchers have discovered a new variant of the HummingBad malware hiding in more than 20 Android apps on Google Play Store. The infected apps were already downloaded by over 12 Million unsuspecting users before the Google Security team removed them from the Play Store. Dubbed HummingWhale by researchers at security firm Check Point, the new malware utilizes new, cutting-edge techniques that allow the nasty software to conduct Ad fraud better than ever before and generate revenue for its developers. The Check Point researchers said the HummingWhale-infected apps had been published under the name of fake Chinese developers on the Play Store with common name structure, com.[name].camera, but with suspicious startup behaviors. "It registered several events on boot,...
'MethBot' Ad Fraud Operators Making $5 Million Revenue Every Day

'MethBot' Ad Fraud Operators Making $5 Million Revenue Every Day

Dec 20, 2016
The biggest advertising fraud ever! A group of hackers is making between $3 Million to $5 Million per day from United States brands and media companies in the biggest digital ad fraud ever discovered. Online fraud-prevention firm White Ops uncovered this new Ad fraud campaign, dubbed " Methbot ," that automatically generates more than 300 Million fraudulent video ad impressions every day. The cyber criminal gang, dubbed AFT13, has developed Methbot robo-browser that spoofs all the necessary interactions needed to initiate, carry out and complete the ad transactions. The hackers, allegedly based in Russia, registered more than 6,000 domains and 250,267 distinct URLs impersonating brand and names of high-profile websites like ESPN, Vogue, CBS Sports, Fox News and the Huffington Post, and selling fake video ad slots. Cyber criminals behind Methbot are using servers hosted in Texas and Amsterdam to power more than 570,000 bots with forged IP addresses, mostly belong...
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