Latest news with #adfraud
Entrepreneur
3 days ago
- Business
- Entrepreneur
UAE Tech Firm Launches Country's First Ad Exchange Platform To Combat Ad Fraud
The platform was developed under the country's innovative NextGenFDI initiative that helps connect local companies with verified advertisers and publishers. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. VeraViews, a United Arab Emirates-based adtech firm developing ad-fraud detection solutions has announced the country's first home-grown Ad Exchange and Supply-Side Platform (SSP), according to a recent media report. The platform was developed under the country's innovative NextGenFDI initiative that helps connect local companies with verified advertisers and publishers. The announcement further introduces the UAE's biggest media outlet Khaleej Times as its the first official publisher. The futuristic move aims to ensure the ad experience remains free from malicious actors, and enforces the rigorous Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and digital crime prevention regimes put in place by the Emirati government. According to one article from Forbes, global ad fraud is projected to reach a massive $172 billion. The solution by VeraViews aims to cut out intermediaries and minimize invalid traffic (IVT) to help boost the UAE's profile as a top ad destination. Employing blockchain technology to help combat fraud is a natural use case of the distributed ledger approach. After capturing the UAE market, its next aim is to target the global advertising sector. The project is being launched under the umbrella of the country's ambitious Digital Economy Strategy 31, a wide-ranging initiative to boost the country's digital economy footprint through investments in blockchain technology, AI, and IoT infrastructure. Khaleej Times and VeraViews The renowned Gulf media Khaleej Times is the first official verified publishing partner on the new VeraViews platform. It offers fully certified, fraud-free ad placements for companies of all backgrounds. The media house offers a locally built, completely transparent programmatic ad inventory and is proud to be an exclusive partner of the anti-fraudulent ad initiative. "By launching the UAE's first home-grown, fraud-proof Ad Exchange, (the firm) speaks to our mandate for trust, transparency, and advanced data governance," stated Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, UAE government. The CEO of Khaleej Times Charles Yardley welcomed the improved ad experience of the media house and further commented that "Khaleej Times is proud to light the way for the UAE's next-gen digital economy. Onboarding to the VeraViews Ad Exchange means our inventory is not just premium — it will be 100 per certified and fraud-free, with a significant increase in demand. Advertisers gain instant, accountable access to loyal Gulf audiences, while we advance the nation's drive for transparent, tech-led media." Olena Buyan, the Chief Product Officer at VeraViews detailed the strategic nature of the verified ad economy and taking KT onboard: "Khaleej Times onboarding as the first premium publisher partner signals — both to the market and to Centennial 2071 ambitions — that the UAE intends to lead, not follow, in creating a trust-first advertising ecosystem." Massive Advantage for Legitimate Businesses At the fundamental level, VeraViews' SSP platform is a digital marketplace for adverts. It helps connect advertisers with available ad space across multiple websites and mobile apps automatically. Local news sites, video platforms, and mobile apps remain the primary destination these days, but through an automated protocol, the publishing experience is streamlined and gives companies complete control over their monetization. Brand integrity is a crucial component of the online ad experience, and the new ad marketplace allows firms to maintain their unique brand identity. The ad platform uses well-tested technologies like AdTrace and Proof of Traffic (PoT) to help detect fraud and incorporate strict Know Your Business (KYB) protocols. It ensures every ad impression is legitimate and every transaction can be traced back to legitimate sources, as every participant within the ecosystem is verified. According to Jean Laurent Vion, the MD of Global Media outlet Mazarine: "The launch of the VeraViews Ad Exchange and SSP marks a pivotal moment for the region's digital advertising ecosystem [...]. We're proud to support this next-generation solution, which aligns perfectly with our commitment to innovation, performance, and integrity in brand storytelling," The launch of the new platform by VeraViews is being treated as a major turning point in the UAE advertisement sector, which is forecasted to be worth $1.7 billion in the current 2025 calendar year. While it is only a fraction of the global advert market, worth reportedly in excess of $1 trillion, the small Middle Eastern country is a global trendsetter and home to a growing blockchain economy. If VeraViews is able to succeed here, it will set a benchmark for other countries and possess the first-mover advantage in the nascent economy.
Phone Arena
09-05-2025
- Phone Arena
These dangerous Android apps are installed 2.5 million times each month
The latest threat to Android phone owners is one that tricks them into installing certain apps that create problems as soon as they are downloaded on their handsets. Dubbed "Kaleidoscope," this is an ad-fraud attack with legitimate apps available in the Google Play Store. There are malicious counterparts to these apps found in third-party app stores, which contribute the fraudulent ads. IAS Threat Labs has given this attack the Kaleidoscope name because it is always changing to avoid detection. According to the data, 2.5 million new devices are compromised each month, with 20% of these found in India. Other areas where Kaleidoscope has been discovered include Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brazil. Driving the expansion of this threat are the installation of malicious apps via third-party app store fronts. Examples of the intrusive ads that appear on Android phones that have installed the malicious apps. | Image credit-IAS Kaleidoscope works like this. An Android user installs an app from the Play Store that looks and even runs like a legitimate app. A malicious duplicate of the app is listed in a third-party app store; messages and social media direct users to install the malicious version of these apps via the third-party app stores and direct installs. The Android device owner thinks that he has installed a legitimate app, and advertisers believe that their ads are being viewed on legit apps. If you have any of these apps on your Android phone, delete them immediately. | Image credit-Forbes Instead, once the malicious version of the app is installed on a phone, it shows intrusive ads, including full-screen images and videos that do not require any interaction from the user to run. You can see how annoying this could be to the unlucky device owners who end up with a phone that is making big bucks for cyber-criminals and prevents users from viewing their displays. Flagged titles have been removed from the Play Store by Google, and the latter adds that it will protect Android users from known versions of Kaleidoscope. The ad resellers involved in this scheme are said not to be very diligent in vetting the quality of the ad inventory they are delivering to advertisers. Usually, this type of malicious adware will cause a phone to overheat, drain the batteries quickly, and lead the device to run slowly with laggy performance. An incredible 2.5 million new installs of Kaleidoscope-infected apps take place each month making this a very serious and dangerous situation for Android users.
Forbes
09-05-2025
- Forbes
Delete Any Apps On Your Phone That Are On This List
You have been warned — get deleting. A serious threat to Android users has been revealed today, with as many as 2.5 million dangerous apps being installed each and every month. The apps have a nasty trick that fools users into the initial download, and once on a phone the damage is done. There's a new list of apps to delete, but there's also a simple warning that will help keep you safe. The new report comes courtesy of Integral Ad Science (IAS), the same team that warned of the 'Vapor' attacks on Android phones in March this year. This new threat is dubbed 'Kaleidoscope — due to its constant transformations as it tries to evade detection and analysis." The name has changed but the threat is broadly the same. The cyber criminals behind this latest ad fraud machine plant benign apps on Google's Play Store that contain none of their malicious code. They then distribute malicious replicas of those apps through third-party app stores and direct installs. Users are directed to those duplicates via messaging and social media channels. To a user it seems that they're downloading a legitimate app through an ad or promotion. And to an advertiser, it seems their ad impressions are coming from legitimate apps. The attackers' payday comes via those advertisers who have no idea their ads are being pushed out at an industrial scale to infected phones, where they disrupt the normal use of the phone to generate impressions which turn to cash. "The malicious app delivers intrusive out-of-context ads under the guise of the benign app ID in the form of full-screen interstitial images and videos, triggered even without user interaction.' The SDK driving this malicious behavior has been updated and has now even been retrospectively added into apps that were previously caught doing the same. They now have a differently named SDK at their core. The infected apps are on this list. This type of threat is well established. A year ago, I reported on the 'evil twin' attacks flagged by Human Security, which warned that the 'Konfety' ad fraud operation had deployed as many as 250 decoy apps on Play Store. Those legitimate and malicious apps shared a common 'CaramelSDK' reference which aided detection and mitigation. Those references have been removed, albeit the original threat itself has not gone away. IAS says it 'analyzed both earlier and newer versions of benign and malicious variants associated with this scheme, examining previously known apps as well as newly discovered ones involved in this evolving threat.' Google has removed flagged apps from Play Store and assures Play Protect will safeguard users from known versions of the threat. But this is a sideloading problem and an industry problem. 'The entities behind Kaleidoscope have successfully identified a network of resellers who are not particularly diligent in vetting the quality of the inventory they deliver to advertisers, enabling them to effectively launder their traffic.' Advice on staying safe is simple. If you're in the habit of sideloading, then scan the list of infected apps and delete any you recognize. Then take care on how many such third-party or direct installs you allow onto your phone. "The 'Kaleidoscope' threat represents a sophisticated evolution in ad fraud tactics," IAS says, 'where threat actors continually adapt to evade detection and extend the scheme's reach. By rebranding their SDKs, shifting command-and-control infrastructure, and embedding malicious capabilities into benign-appearing applications, these threat actors demonstrate a relentless focus on circumventing defenses.'
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pixalate's April 2025 North America Top 100 Mobile App Store Bundle IDs: ‘Wordscapes' Leads on Apple App Store in U.S. and Canada, ‘Scrabble® GO-Classic' Ranks No. 1 on Google Play Store in Canada
Pixalate According to Pixalate's research, the Bundle ID for 'Solitaire' ( led in the U.S. on the Google Play Store London, May 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pixalate , a leading global platform for ad fraud protection, privacy, and compliance analytics, today released the April 2025 Top 100 North America Mobile App Bundle IDs Rankings for Open Programmatic Mobile Advertising on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The reports highlight the top mobile app Bundle IDs in the U.S. and Canada . In addition to the U.S. and Canada reports, Pixalate released Bundle ID rankings for the United Kingdom , Spain , France , the Netherlands , Germany , Mexico , Brazil , China , Japan , India, and Singapore . Pixalate's data science team analyzed global programmatic advertising activity across over 20 billion impressions on Apple App Store and Google Play Store app traffic in April 2025 to compile the research in this series. The rankings are based on open programmatic advertising volume measured by Pixalate. The Bundle IDs are ranked after invalid traffic (IVT) is removed. Top North America Mobile App Bundle IDs (April 2025) United States - Apple App Store Bundle ID App Name Developer Name 1207472156 Wordscapes PeopleFun, Inc. 1617391485 Block Blast！ ARETIS LIMITED 1407852246 Happy Color by Numbers Game X-FLOW LTD United States - Google Play Store Bundle ID App Name Developer Name - Classic Cards Tripledot Studios Limited Happy Color®: Coloring Book X-FLOW Woodoku - Wood Block Puzzle Tripledot Studios Limited Canada - Google Play Store Bundle ID App Name Developer Name Scrabble® GO-Classic Word Game Scopely TeraBox: Cloud Storage Space Flextech Inc. Happy Color®: Coloring Book X-FLOW Canada - Apple App Store Bundle ID App Name Developer Name 1207472156 Wordscapes PeopleFun, Inc. 1617391485 Block Blast！ ARETIS LIMITED 319881193 Grindr - Gay Dating & Chat Grindr LLC Download the Global Top 100 Mobile App Bundle IDs (April 2025)
