{"id":301061,"date":"2020-02-25T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/integralads.com\/insider\/ias-detects-404bot-scheme\/"},"modified":"2024-11-13T08:39:36","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T08:39:36","slug":"ias-detects-404bot-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/integralads.com\/uk\/insider\/ias-detects-404bot-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"IAS detects 404bot Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In early 2019, the IAS Threat Lab, our team of fraud experts, unmasked a large-scale ad fraud scheme that has been on the prowl since 2018. This bot scheme\u2019s main game is domain-spoofing, generating fake browser data and creating fabricated URLs earning its name: 404bot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is it?<\/b><\/p>\n

The 404bot capitalises on unaudited Ads.txt files, the very tool created to help ad buyers avoid illegitimate sellers and prevent unauthorised 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the impact?<\/b><\/p>\n

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 Authourised 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 capitalising on unaudited Ads.txt files.<\/span><\/p>\n