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Russian Hackers Stole $5 Million Per Day From Advertisers With Bots and Fake Websites (cnn.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the it's-all-an-illusion dept.

Russian hackers have used fake websites and bots to steal millions of dollars from advertisers. According to researchers, the fraud has siphoned more than $180 million from the online ad industry. CNNMoney reports: Dubbed "Methbot," it is a new twist in an increasingly complex world of online crime, according to White Ops, the cybersecurity firm that discovered the operation. Methbot, so nicknamed because the fake browser refers to itself as the "methbrowser," operates as a sham intermediary advertising ring: Companies would pay millions to run expensive video ads. Then they would deliver those ads to what appeared to be major websites. In reality, criminals had created more than 250,000 counterfeit web pages no real person was visiting. White Ops first spotted the criminal operation in October, and it is making up to $5 million per day -- by generating up to 300 million fake "video impressions" daily. According to White Ops, criminals acquired massive blocks of IP addresses -- 500,000 of them -- from two of the world's five major internet registries. Then they configured them so that they appeared to be located all over the United States. They built custom software so that computers (at those legitimate data centers) acted like real people viewing those ads. These "people" even appeared to have Facebook accounts (they didn't), so that premium ads were served. Hackers fooled ad fraud blockers because they figured out how to build software that mimicked a real person who only surfed during the daytime -- using the Google Chrome web browser on a Macbook laptop.

6 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. A single tear runs down my cheek. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Turn off your ad blocker and reload this page.

    Now, look at the shit down there.

    Wait, now click on some of them - go ahead. Try the one with the really hot chick or movie star - there's always one of those.

    You'll be stuck in horseshit hell. Some have mousetraps and other sleazy techniques to generate more page hits than you intended.

    Fuck'em.

    I mean really. It's one assholes "stealing" from another.

    1. Re: A single tear runs down my cheek. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, but we are talking about taking money! Mucking around with an election is one thing, but when you start stealing money then you have crossed the line.

    2. Re: A single tear runs down my cheek. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      You need to be a nlgger to stand a chance, with ties to ISIS.

  2. I am okay with this by wbr1 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The online ad industry is so fucked, let it happen. Defraud the fraudsters. Exhaust their funding

    Every PC I service gets adblocking with customer permission and education on it. It is in my opinion unethical not to. There are so many fraudulent (even browser hijacking and malware delivering ads), that there is no other choice.

    Not to mention that it often speeds up browsing by a third or more, pertinent info is easier to find, etc.

    Fix the industry or get thee gone.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
  3. Re: RUSSIAN HACKERS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I can probably find Russia on a map. You going to be down on me for that? Personally I think Trump is an idiot but let him, you know, actually be Prez before you cry about how bad a Prez he is. Otherwise you just sound like crybaby Hollywood celeb.

  4. Is there a newsletter? by argStyopa · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...because I'd rather get the DNC/Obama Admin "message of the day" directly first thing in the morning, instead of having to wait for it to filter through their shills and then social media.

    Thanks!

    --
    -Styopa