DMEXCO Industry trends digest: A shift in focus towards ad compliance and brand safety solutions

DMEXCO Industry trends digest: ad compliance and brand safety solutions

The past 20th and 21st September, AdSecure, one of the top ad compliance and brand safety solutions, exhibited at DMEXCO in Cologne, Germany, along with our partner, white-label ad serving technology solution EXADS. DMEXCO is Europe’s leading digital marketing & tech event connecting players within the tech ecosystem across the world, which makes it a great context to catch up with industry trends, hearing them from the horse’s mouth, and continue being ahead of the game. One pleasant surprise is that, compared to what we observed during last year’s event, there’s now a much stronger focus on ad quality and safety, with more Ad Networks and Publishers partnering with ad compliance platforms in order to adhere to high standards and regulations, and promote brand safety. Also, Programmatic advertising continues to expand its market share aiming for the stars, and big players such as Google are starting to integrate Generative AI into their advertising and marketing technologies. Continue reading this year's DMEXCO Industry trends digest to learn more!

#1 DMEXCO Industry trends digest: Huge focus shift towards ad compliance and brand safety solutions

One of the main issues we discovered during the last DMEXCO show was the lack of focus on the importance of using robust ad compliance and brand safety solutions, and we recognized the need for clean programmatic ads, promoting online brand safety for Publishers, Ad Networks and Advertisers. It does seem like our pleas have been heard, as many of the ad agencies and companies we spoke with during this year’s DMEXCO event have now partnered with one or more ad quality and ad security solution providers. It's inspiring to witness such a noticeable increase in attention to ad compliance within the digital advertising industry!

SSPs and Publishers alike are recognizing the importance of adhering to high standards and strict regulations to ensure that their ad campaigns are not only effective but also respectful of user privacy and preferences, let alone security. This focus on compliance reflects a growing awareness of the significance of trust and transparency in the digital advertising ecosystem. Consequently, we are observing a positive shift towards more responsible and ethical advertising practices, where ad quality and user experience take center stage. This trend not only benefits users by providing them with more relevant and respectful ad experiences but also sustains the overall integrity of the digital advertising landscape.

Not to mention the benefits that partnering with reputable ad safety and compliance solutions such as AdSecure can bring to both Publishers and Ad Networks, aside from promoting a healthy brand image and safety: Keeping websites free from malvertising, unsafe and non-compliant ad content, and automating Ad Network’s compliance tasks, assisting their teams to drive high quality ad delivery, meet industry standards and be free of malvertising.

#2 How to keep programmatic ads safe and clean as programmatic advertising continues to progress towards a state of maturity

Next up in this year's DMEXCO Industry trends digest, it hardly comes as a surprise: Programmatic advertising continues to thrive and expand its market share in 2023. According to Statista, programmatic advertising spending in Europe surged from $85.33 billion in 2022 to $95.58 billion in 2023, showcasing a remarkable annual growth rate of 12%. Furthermore, the market is poised for continued robust growth, with projections indicating a reach of $120.84 billion by 2026. These statistics underscore an ecosystem that is not only proficient in adapting to change but also persistent in its commitment to a privacy-first future.

DMEXCO Industry trends digest: Ad safety and quality solution for ad networks and publishers, How to keep programmatic ads safe and clean and Ad compliance tools that perform RTB analysis

Programmatic advertising spending in Europe from 2017 to 2026 

 (in billion U.S. dollars) 

In 2022, a significant milestone was achieved as video advertising surpassed non-video formats in programmatic ad spending. Connected TV (CTV) emerged as the primary driver behind this transformative shift and continues to drive the growth of programmatic digital display within the video format. As a result, ad quality and ad security solutions within the ad tech industry have placed significant emphasis on the display of video formats, particularly CTV. But, how to keep programmatic ads safe and clean? AdSecure is committed to ongoing development and evolution, aligning with our clients' evolving needs to safeguard the viewing experience of their end users. And, to ensure you are serving programmatic ads that are always compliant, AdSecure offers ad compliance tools that perform RTB analysis as one of its many ad compliance and brand safety solutions. To find out more about how AdSecure's ad compliance tools that perform RTB analysis, please contact us now!

#3 Revolutionizing Advertising in the Age of Generative AI, and how to detect fraudulent content in ads with AI models

AI is really taking over the world! The third biggest trend observed at DMEXCO was the usage of Generative AI in Advertising. Big players like Google and Microsoft have already integrated Generative artificial intelligence into their advertising and marketing technologies, and more and more companies believe that generative AI is unlocking a world of creativity.

Google already used AI in its ads to suggest products for users to buy. Now, with its new and more powerful AI called Bard, it can make more complex ad campaigns, almost like the ones made by marketing experts! They also explained that advertisers can give the AI assets like pictures, videos, and textual content connecting to specific campaigns. Subsequently, the AI takes charge and employs these resources to "remix" and generate advertisements tailored to target audiences and various objectives, including sales targets.

There are also other fields Generative AI can come into play in advertising technologies, such as A/B Testing, Predictive Analytics, and Fraud Detection. Taking Ad Fraud Detection as an example, AI has already become a powerful tool for ad fraud prevention because of its ability to process large volumes of data quickly, recognize complex patterns, and adapt to evolving fraud tactics. It helps advertisers and ad platforms minimize financial losses and maintain the integrity of their advertising campaigns. Currently, to run its vast array of ad compliance and brand safety solutions, AdSecure allows you to detect fraudulent content in ads with AI models. And, in the near future, we plan to further enhance our capabilities by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning models to provide our users with the most optimized protection on ad security and brand safety - Stay tuned!

#4 Online brand safety for Publishers, Ad Networks and Advertisers

The last stop for this DMEXCO Industry trends digest. Brand safety in online advertising is crucial for safeguarding brand reputation, complying with regulations, maintaining consumer trust, optimizing ad effectiveness, and upholding ethical standards. It's an essential component of a successful and responsible advertising strategy in the digital age. To our delight, at this year's DMEXCO, we observed a growing emphasis on Brand Safety strategies as companies partnered with solution providers to safeguard their brand reputation and ensure alignment with their brand values in their marketing strategies.

AdSecure also offers cutting-edge ad compliance and brand safety solutions that provide comprehensive coverage for monitoring users' ad environment - Get in touch to know more. Our services assist advertisers and brands in enhancing their positive reputation, thereby reinforcing their online brand safety strategy, while protecting their revenue, compliance, and end users. We also want to take this opportunity and give out some suggestions on how to reinforce your brand safety:

#1 Keyword Blacklisting: Avoid placing your ads near damaging keywords by blacklisting them. Many platforms offer this feature, or you can do it through your ad network.

#2 Choose a Reliable Provider: Research ad networks or platforms thoroughly before using their services. Reputable providers ensure ad safety and offer performance analytics.

#3 Avoid Blacklisted Publishers: Steer clear of blacklisted websites, as they pose a risk to your brand reputation, regardless of attractive offers.

#4 Partner with Experts: Collaborate with Brand Safety and Ad Security experts like AdSecure to align your marketing strategy with your brand's values and protect revenue, compliance, and users.

It has been an absolute pleasure, DMEXCO!

The AdSecure team has gone to DMEXCO for the second year in a row now. Aside from once again exceeding our expectations in terms of networking opportunities, it has also given us a great chance to chat with industry players worldwide and continue learning about the ever-in-motion evolution of the tech industry. These conversations are crucial to help us better understand the potential future needs of our clients and partners, as well as the challenges that face the digital business ecosystem year on year, and into the future!

Are you looking to join Publishers and Ad Networks worldwide in keeping the ad tech ecosystem safe and compliant with one of the best ad compliance and brand safety solutions in the market? or do you want to know more about our ad compliance tools that perform RTB analysis, how to keep programmatic ads safe and clean, or detecting fraudulent content in ads with AI models? Get in touch or register for an AdSecure account today!

Malvertising trends in the UK in Q1 & Q2 2023

Malvertising trends in the UK in Q1 & Q2 2023

With ad security detections increasing in numbers year on year, malvertising continues to be a cause of concern for ad networks and publishers across the globe. This is why AdSecure strives to continuously optimize its ad security tools and features to continue to protect your online business for monetizing ads and end users, from malicious campaigns and poor quality advertising. And not only that, we also bring you up-to-date information about malvertising activity through our quarterly and yearly Violations Reports. This time, we are comparing malvertising trends in the UK from Q2 against Q1 2023.

UK malvertising detections: Categories comparison Q1 & Q2 2023

If we take a deep dive into AdSecure’s Violations Report Q1 & Q2 2023 we will see the evolution of the 4 violations categories detected during the 2 quarters. So let’s see the breakdown of UK malvertising detections in Q1 & Q2 2023 in categories:

UK malvertising detections Q2 2023

UK Malvertising detections Q1 2023

User Security category: 16% of all violations in the UK were within the User Security category in Q1 and 24% in Q2, which is an increase of 50% in the second quarter. This category detects violations that have a serious potential to compromise the end user’s safety and welfare.

User Experience category: 34% of all violations in the UK were within the User Experience category in Q1, and 31% in Q2, which is a decrease of -8.2%. User Experience violations affect end users with malicious and annoying activity within the ads they interact with.

User Advisory category: 49% of all violations in the UK were User Advisory violations in Q1 and 42% in Q2, which is a decrease of -14.2% comparing Q1 with Q2. User Advisory violations detect offensive content that isn’t suitable for all users, as well as suspicious or fraudulent activity.

IAB Standards detections: 1% of all violations in the UK, that 1 in every 100 campaigns, did not meet industry IAB Standards in Q1, and 3% (3 in every 100) in Q2, which is a massive increase of +200%! IAB standards violations measure the performance of ads against the IAB Industry standards to stay industry compliant.

Top 10 GEOs for malvertising attacks

Now, let’s identify the top 10 GEOs with the highest volumes of malvertising attacks detected in Q2 2023:

Top 1: USA (33.4%)
Top 2: Thailandia (11%)
Top 3: India (8.7%)
Top 4: Philippines (7.7%)
Top 5: United Kingdom (7.6%)
Top 6: Germany (7.1%)
Top 7: Brazil (6.8%)
Top 8: Italy (6.1%)
Top 9: Malaysia (6%)
Top 10: France (5.6%)

As we can see above, the UK is number 5 within the top 10 GEOs where most violations were detected by AdSecure. Also, 26.6% of all violations worldwide were detected in Europe in Q2 2023, meaning that Europe is the second region with more cybercriminal activity, right after the USA (with 33.4% of all detections). Additionally, the United Kingdom is the country which has the highest number of violations detected within Europe, with a total of 7.6% malvertising attacks in Q2. Germany follows closely with an average of 7.1% malvertising attacks. Italy and France come next with 6.1% and 5.8% respectively. So, as we can see, a large portion of Europe was affected by malvertising in the second quarter of 2023. Lastly, the United Kingdom had a significant increase of +18.1% of violations detected, comparing Q1 to Q2. As a result of the increase in malicious ad campaigns, more and more publishers, ad networks and ad operations teams need to offer a secure ad browsing experience and guarantee an excellent end user experience.

What are the top 10 UK Malvertising Trends for Q1 & Q2 2023?

AdSecure’s ad safety and ad quality solutions provide powerful and in depth scans to detect malicious advertising and poor ad quality globally, which is why we can give you useful insights to learn cyber criminal activity patterns and protect your online business and end users. In the following table, you can see the top 10 UK malvertising trends ordered by the biggest changes, when comparing Q2 with Q1:

uk violations Q1 Q2 variation

Let’s then look into the most popular online advertising threats that revealed significant increases in the UK in Q2 2023. At the top of the table we have the Iab-ad-dimensions, which we will talk about later in this article, together with the rest of IAB Standards based detections.

+145.4% increase in Malicious URLs

Malicious URLs showed an enormous increase of +145.4% in Q2 compared to Q1. Scammers create and distribute these malicious or dangerous links and try to trick end users into clicking them, sometimes in order to steal their data and sensitive information. Once end users get to these websites, they are dangerously exposed to malicious software, viruses, or other threatening content.

Malvertising insight: It is advisable to run regular analyses pre and post launch, since an ad landing’s URL can be changed anytime by the Malvertisers, and they tend to do it post-launch after bypassing initial compliance and security checks. This means that a compliant URL can be changed into a malicious one at anytime if regular scans aren’t run!

+75% increase in Permission Notifications

In second place, Permission Notification violations had a significant increase of +75% in Q2 compared to Q1. This violation requests permission to send notifications to the end user to access their device’s camera, microphone, geolocation, clipboard, etc. Although not dangerous in all cases, it can be quite a disconcerting and alarming violation, making the end user feel unsafe upon clicking an ad on your website.

Malvertising Insight: The Permission Notification violation offers a very poor user experience because it sends your end users unsolicited alerts asking for unknown apps to get permissions to access personal information, making them feel that their privacy is under threat. Besides, malvertisers use them in the hope that the end user clicks to accept and then the bad actors can access personal files and data from the end user's device, for instance tracking their location for non compliant targeting purposes.

+60.8% increase in SSL Non Compliant

With the highest number of violations detected both in Q1 and Q2 within the top 10 ranking, ssl non compliant increased by +60.8% in Q2 compared to Q1. In brief, SSL Non Compliant detections refer to ads that contain at least one unsecured item in the chain of resources (unsafe, no https, mixed content, ssl version or cipher mismatch).

Malvertising Insight: As you probably know, the ‘s’ in https on a website stands for secure encryption, which can only be guaranteed with an SSL certificate. By not installing an SSL certificate on your website or landing page, you are leaving your website and your end users open to numerous risks of bad ads such as phishing, non-payment, and personal data violations, especially if they are meant to hand over sensitive information such as credit card information, home addresses, and financial data. It is then key to make sure that the SSL certificate is always present both as a website publisher, or as an ad network when assessing the URLs in an ad supply chain.

+60.7% increase in Back Button Hijacks

Back Button Hijacking is an ad security threat which manipulates the end user’s browser history, keeping them stuck on a certain page by inserting one or several redirects in their browser history, to then forward them back to that specific page. It could be used to redirect the end user to dangerous pages containing scam or phishing content designed to steal their data!

Malvertising Insight: Whenever Back Button Hijack scripts are detected, the AdSecure system will notify our clients in real time so they can take faster action on their campaigns. This detection is crucial to prevent publishers and ad networks from keeping their ads and campaigns fully compliant and maintaining a positive online reputation.

IAB Standards Detections

AdSecure is the best malvertising prevention and ad quality solution on the market today, as it offers the IAB Standards detection tool that scans ads to verify that they are aligned with the Industry Standards. The number of IAB Standards detections increased a whooping +200% in Q2!

IAB standards UK violations 2023

This category also experienced huge increases on each detection independently. Let’s have a look:

- Iab-ad-dimension experienced an increase of +231.40% in Q2: This detection will flag ads that are not compliant with the IAB standards in terms of ad dimension, so ads displayed are squashed or pixelated.

- Iab-ad-compression increased by +180.20% in Q2: This detection will flag ads that are not compliant with the IAB standards within this category, which means they are not delivered in a compressed format.

- Iab-ad-weight increased by +166.80% in Q2: This detection will flag ads that are not compliant with the IAB standards in terms of ad weight (initial load and sub-load).

- Iab-request-count increased by +125.10% in Q2: This detection will flag ads that are not compliant with the IAB standards in terms of ad request count. IAB recommends a maximum of 10 requests.

Malvertising insight: As we can see, huge increases all across the board! AdSecure’s IAB detections are a great tool for ad networks and publishers to use to identify advertisers who need to be educated about industry standards. By identifying specific campaigns, the ad network or publisher then contacts the advertiser and asks them to re-submit the campaign with the correct weight, size, compression, etc. Campaigns that are aligned to the IAB standards lead to higher levels of user engagement and overall conversion, which means that providing compliant ad creatives plays a key role in maximizing revenues. Also, website performance can be impacted negatively if industry standards are not met, creating a bad user experience, affecting publisher eCPMs and possible Google rankings.

Dangerous and annoying violation increases outside of the Top 10

Although not in the top 10, the next 3 violations can cause significant disruptions in user experience on publisher websites, either by annoying them with unwanted notifications, or downloading dangerous software that will seriously impair the end user’s welfare and privacy. The 3 detections experienced steep increases in Q2 2023.

+525% increase in Auto Vibrate

The biggest increase (+540%) comparing Q2 to Q1 is for Auto Vibrate. This violation might not have the highest numbers, however as we can see it has experienced a HUGE increase in the UK in less than half a year, which means that it is wise to keep an eye on this specific violation when running ad security scans through the ad supply chain. Auto Vibrate ads automatically vibrate on the user's device when they reach the malicious advertiser’s landing page. This provides a bad navigating experience for the end user and can cause them to feel unsafe since their device has vibrated for no apparent reason! Which could cause them to leave your website immediately and affect your online brand’s reputation.

Malvertising insight: This detection is based on the malicious use of the HTML5 vibrate API. This protocol is also used for some browsers which vibrate as an alert if a virus or problem has been detected. So, it could be difficult for the end user to see the difference between the real alert and the malicious one, especially if the malicious one has been paired up with an auto-pop with a warning. So, aside from being irritating for the end user, it could pose a threat for their safety if delivered by the hands of a very skilled malvertiser!

+216% increase in Pop Ups

Similar to Auto Vibrate, Auto Pops are ads that automatically trigger pops (both Pop Ups and Tabunders) without user interaction. Google penalizes websites that show Pop Ups to end users. In Q2 there was a massive detection spike with malvertisers concentrating a lot of activity using this violation.

Malvertising insight: Aside from providing, once again, a less than ideal end user experience launching unwanted pop messages all over the place, some Pop Ups can automatically trigger and download malicious software into the end user’s device! So, once again, this violation can be a considerable threat for the end user’s device and privacy.

+133% increase in Auto Downloads

Auto Downloads are ads that automatically download a file/executable application without user interaction, which can contain harmful files, viruses, or malware that are quietly installed on the user’s device. This can be dangerous as most of the time the end user is totally unaware.

Malvertising insight: This violation could be especially dangerous for Android users, since the Android operating system uses APK (Android Package Kit) files to install legitimate applications, but these can be manipulated by malvertisers to distribute malicious software! Malicious APK files can be disguised as popular apps, games, or utilities, tempting users to install them. Once installed, these files can gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, take control of devices, or cause other harmful actions.

Conclusion

Are you an ad network or publisher looking for the best malvertising detection solution in the industry? AdSecure is a powerful ad safety and quality solution that monitors the ad supply chain in order to detect and eliminate malicious activity, such as dangerous, non-compliant or low quality ads. Aside from that, at AdSecure we also make available to you annual and quarterly Violation Reports through comprehensive analyses to provide useful insights to learn malvertising’ trends and avoid malicious activity impacting your business. Why not start a 14-day free trial and start protecting your online business and end users now! Or you can get in touch to ask for more information to our expert team.

Forced cybercrime and trafficking in South East Asia

online scam violations in South Asia

According to the latest United Nations Report online scam violations in South Asia, billions of dollars are being generated each year by gangs who coerce victims into committing cyber crimes globally! According to the report, hundreds of thousands of people in Asia have been trafficked and forced to work for online scamming operations across South East Asia. Most of these victims are migrants in vulnerable situations who face a range of human rights risks, however some countries' nationals are also being targeted. These online scam operations are mainly rooted in the rise of online casinos and gambling pages in the South East Asian region during the Covid pandemic. Such pages are officially banned to varying extents in China, Cambodia, Thailand and Lao PDR, creating the right out of the law environment for cybercriminals to exploit victims using cryptocurrency fraud, illegal gambling and other online scam violations. To help you protect your online business and end users from these dangerous cybercriminal malvertising scams in South Asia, from AdSecure we bring you the top malvertising trends perpetuated by cyber criminals in South Asia in Q1 2023:

Forcibly recruiting victims to become cybercriminals in South East Asia

The main focus by cybercriminal gangs is to exploit online businesses and e-commerce platforms across the world by using cryptocurrencies and online gambling scams, which is why criminal gangs have targeted multilingual individuals across South East Asia, as online casinos have become more popular globally, since the pandemic. While many of the victims were from South East Asia, the UN estimated that about 120,000 victims are in Myanmar and 100,000 in Cambodia, while tens of thousands more people are being forced to work in Laos, the Philippines and Thailand. The report’s author, Pia Oberoi, UN Senior Adviser on Migration and Human Rights for the Asia Pacific region, informs that victims from Southern Asia, Africa and Latin America are also involved.

To make things more complicated, many of the centers in which these targeted victims are forced into online criminal activity, are physically located in jurisdictions where governance and the rule of law are weak, and authority is contested. As mentioned above, individuals are forced or coerced to perpetrate online malvertising threats using a range of platforms including fake gambling websites and cryptocurrency investment platforms, as well as romantic and financial scams (also called “pig-butchering”), where fake romantic relationships or friendships are used to defraud online users of significant amounts of money. The scams are often highly sophisticated, with fake websites built to showcase fraudulent data in order to convince the target that there are significant profits to be made. People who are targeted can also receive small amounts of money to convince them of the legitimacy of the platform.

Now, let’s look into the sort of online malvertising threats detected in South Asia, according to the AdSecure Violation Report South Asia in Q1 2023.

Top 10 online malvertising threats detected in South Asia in Q1 2023

According to the AdSecure Violation Report South Asia in Q1 2023, the following were the top 10 online malvertising threats detected in South Asia in Q1 2023, across all categories:

As we can see, Ssl-non-compliant is on top, followed by Threat Intelligence. User Experience violations are the most popular, followed by User Advisory and then User Security - Let’s look at what has been going on within each category:

27.60% of scans in South Asia detected User Security Violations: The User Security category covers violations that harm the end user’s safety. The most used User Security violations detected in South Asia in Q1 2023 were Ssl-non-compliant and Malicious URLs with 22.40% and 5.2% respectively of the total top 10 violations.

Insight: Ssl-non-compliant violations are malicious ads that contain at least one unsecured element in their chain of resources, whether it is an unsafe link lacking encryption, no https, mixed content, a ssl version, or a cipher mismatch. This critical violation could cause the end user’s security being compromised, as well as being blocked by Google and flagged as insecure, which directly affects the reputation of the hosting website. The second violation detected within the category is Malicious URL, which are compromised urls used to direct users to dangerous and or non-compliant sites to steal their personal and sensitive information such as bank details and logins, or even trick them into downloading dangerous software. This can once again lead to serious consequences for the end user’s safety.

30.5% of scans in South Asia detected User Experience Violations: The User Experience category covers non-critical violations that can provide a poor user experience, driving them away from websites over time, if left unresolved. The following are the top 4 User Experience Violations detected in South Asia in Q1 2023:

Top 1: Back-button-hijack
Top 2: Javascript-dialog
Top 3: Landing-page-error
Top 4: Auto-redirect

User Experience violations affect end users with malicious and annoying activity within the ad campaigns they interact with. For instance, cybercriminals use hijacking back buttons to direct users to a different page when the back button is clicked. They want end users to stay on their page or site longer rather than leaving the website right away. Besides, both landing page error and auto-redirect violations impair user experience by manipulating the end user’s browser history, keeping them stuck on a certain page by inserting one or several redirects in their browser history, to then forward them back to that specific page.

Insight: Auto-redirect was also a popular violation in South Asia. This detection can become a huge problem for a website publisher’s brand reputation, as the Auto-redirect forces a web page to break out of any frame “framing" it, resulting in automatically redirecting the visitor to another website or landing page - This new page the end user gets redirected to can contain anything, from simply annoying or spammy to highly age inappropriate or dangerous content designed to steal the end user’s information.

41.5% of scans in South Asia detected User Advisory Violations: The User Advisory category can be compromised with malvertising trends that can be offensive material not appropriate for all audiences or the potential for suspicious or fraudulent activity. The following are the top 4 User Advisory Violations detected in South Asia in Q1 2023:

Top 1: Threat-intelligence
Top 2: Suspicious-tld
Top 3: Unsafe-content-adult
Top 4: Ad-crypto

Insight: The top violation within the category is Threat Intelligence and is based on AdSecure’s Threat Intelligence service, which reports if a URL is flagged with a violation detected in any AdSecure analysis during the previous 30 days. Malvertisers tend to hide several different types of violations in one single link, which makes it easier for them to sneak malicious activity in, even if 1 or 2 of their violations are detected. For instance, one same URL in an ad can contain a Phishing Threat, covered up by Ad Cloaking, and also contain Crypto Mining or Browser Locker Code. Even if the first 2 are detected, the user’s online welfare would still be at risk.

Top 5 online scam violations in South Asia in Q1 2023

According to the AdSecure Violation Report South Asia in Q1 2023, the following were the top 5 cybercriminal malvertising scams in South Asia in Q1 2023, across all categories:

online scam violations in South Asia

As we can see in the table above, end user security was seriously compromised across South Asia in Q1 2023. In fact, supported by the United Nations Report online scam violations in South Asia, many of the online scams are quite sophisticated since they have been designed to convince end users that these fake phishing websites are legitimate. In addition to that, we see that Browser-locker is the top online malvertising scam detected with 36.21%, which shows us that cybercriminal malvertising scams in South Asia are very popular. However, following the ranking, in the second position in online scams we find Permission Geolocation which, simply put, is a permission request to track the user’s location.

Insight: Permission-geolocation requests permission to send notifications to the user to access their device’s geolocation. Permission requests are fairly common, when an end user downloads an app, or gives location access, etc. However, they are unsolicited and possibly alarming for an end user that has just clicked on an ad. Besides, cybercriminals use them in the hope that the end user clicks to accept and then the bad actors can access personal files and data from the end user's device, for instance tracking their location for non compliant targeting purposes.

Conclusion

As we can read in the United Nations Report online scam violations in South Asia, cybercriminal malvertising scams in South Asia are growing due to the underlying governance and socio-economic factors that fuel this growing illicit economy. Online malvertising threats detected in South Asia can be very frightening for both brands and users, making it crucial for ad networks and publishers to protect the end user’s wellbeing, whilst producing a great user experience for them, thus ensuring a great brand reputation. So how can AdSecure help you? If you are an ad network or a publisher and you want to protect your online business or website from criminal gangs and malvertising, AdSecure is the best ad protection solution in the industry. Start a 14-day free trial and let our Customer Success Specialists guide you through our platform and answer any questions you have about while testing our platform!

How Cybercriminals attacked mobile users in Q1 2023

How to protect mobile ads

Mobile continues to grow in dominance as the device that generates the most internet traffic.  According to Oberlo, in February 2023, 60.67% of all web traffic came through smartphones. Cybercriminals know this too and will target malvertising at mobile websites just as much as desktop websites. The question is, how to protect mobile advertising from cybercriminals? And how do Cybercriminals attack mobile users? AdSecure examined violation detection data during Q1 2023. It found that mobile advertising violation detections stood at 46.7% and desktop violation detections at 53.3%. Let’s take a closer look to see the many different tactics used to target malicious advertising at mobile devices.

Mobile browsers and malvertising

According to Statista Android maintained its position as the leading mobile operating system worldwide in the fourth quarter of 2022, with 71.8% share, while iOS accounted for around 27.6% of the mobile operating system market. However, if we look at AdSecure’s violation detection data for iOS devices using Safari versus Android devices using Chrome, it is more disproportionate, with Safari attacks at 44.7% and Android Chrome attacks at 55.3%. 

Mobile browsers and malvertising How Cybercriminals attack mobile users

Insight: Because iPhone users tend to be more affluent, Cybercriminals clearly try to attack iOS mobile users with as much effort as Chrome users.

Top 3 targeted mobile devices for detections per operating system

iOS devices for detections:

iPhone 8 

iPhone 8+

iPhone X

Android devices

Samsung Galaxy S10

Nexus 6 

Google Pixel 3

As you can see these device models are older than the current latest models from manufacturers. iPhone 8 was released back in 2017 and in the Android list, Nexus 6 was released in 2014 and is now discontinued. 

Insight: How do Cybercriminals attack mobile users? Cybercriminals target older handsets because in some cases, older handsets tend not to have the latest software protection updates. They also assume that less tech savvy people tend not to get the latest smartphone models or upgrade their devices for many years. This makes them prime targets for malicious activity. So what was that malicious activity in Q1 targeting mobile devices? 

Mobile Q1 violation types

Looking at the share of each violations category detected on mobile, let's see how Cybercriminals attacked mobile users in more detail:

How Cybercriminals attack mobile users

How do Cybercriminals attack mobile users? User Security violations

In Q1, the top 2 violations which took the lion's share of violations were SSL non compliance, which detects ads that contain at least one unsecured item in the chain of resources (unsafe, no https, mixed content, ssl version or cipher mismatch). The second largest was Malicious URLs which are inserted into ads with the intent of hosting all kinds of unsolicited content such as spam, phishing, and drive-by exploits. Like other kinds of malvertisements, a Malicious URL is designed to lure unsuspecting users to scam sites, which can lead to serious issues such as monetary loss, theft of sensitive information, and the appearance of malware. At first sight, Malicious URLs can look like legit landing page URLs intended to be a part of an ad’s sales funnel. They can go completely undetected by ad platforms and publishers, representing a real threat for the end user.

Top 5 most scary User Security violations for end users

Taking a deeper dive into AdSecure’s detection data, there are a selection of violations that are perhaps the scariest to happen to an end user on their mobile device. In Q1 there were no detections found for Randsomware, perhaps the one violation that brings the most fear for end users, by blocking their device and files unless a ransom is paid. But this did not stop Cybercriminals attempting to exploit end users with the following user security violations:

Browser Locker 42.3%: This violation disables any form of action that can close the browser. In a better scenario, advertisers force users to accept Push Notifications in the browser, otherwise it will loop the users in the browser. In a worse scenario, all attempts to close the browser will result in a warning message box appearing. The purpose of browser lockers is not only to scare but also to create the illusion that the mobile device has been locked. What's happened is that the browser is stuck in between a flurry of alert dialogs that won't seem to go away, no matter how many times they are clicked on.

Drive by Cryptomining 31%: Cybercriminals hijack the end users mobile device to use its processor to secretly mine for Crypto currency for the Cybercriminal. Also called Crytpojacking, the end user has no idea their device has been hijacked. 

Unwanted Programs 14.5%: This violation downloads unwanted software on the end users mobile device via an executable file or mobile application. Programs could be malware, fake antivirus software, etc.

Scareware 7.1%: These are ads claiming that the end user’s mobile device is infected with a virus and that the end user needs an antivirus software, which may, ironically, actually contain a virus that could harm the mobile device, causing costly repairs or, even worse, lead to identity theft. Scammers often use the names of well-known companies that specialize in software to gain end user trust. The Scareware pop-up advertisements aim to mimic genuine warning alerts generated by security software.

Phishing 5.1%: After clicking on an ad the end user is sent to a phishing site which aims to trick the end user into revealing their personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers, or credit cards). The content pretends to act, or looks and feels, like a trusted entity — for example, a browser, operating system, bank, or government.

How do Cybercriminals attack mobile users? User Experience violations

User Experience violations damage the end user experience on how they interact with ads served on a publisher site. Here are the top 5 User Experience violations AdSecure detected in Q1 on mobile:

Landing Page Error 44.2%: This is when an end user receives an alert when the system identifies a broken/dead link (404 Error, 5xx, timeouts, etc.) on the ad’s landing page or when a broken link is identified in the path (intermediate redirect links inside the chain) between the click URL and the landing page. 

Back Button Hijack 24.6%: Back Button Hijacking is an ad security threat which manipulates the end user’s browser history, keeping them stuck on a certain page by inserting one or several redirects in their browser history, to then forward them back to that specific page. This abusive behavior of hijacking a user's browsing history has been considered a violation by Google Advertising Policies.

Javascript Dialog On Entry 15.9%: A Javascript alert that pops up without user interaction on entering a website.

Permission Notification 10.3%: This violation attempts to ask the end user for permission to send notifications to them.

Auto Redirect 5%: Ads that contain a script causing a mobile web page to break out of any frames "framing" it, resulting in automatically redirecting the visitor to another potentially malicious website/page.

How do Cybercriminals attack mobile users? User Advisory violations

User Advisory violations can provide a poor user experience, driving end users away from websites. This affects the traffic quality of websites and also trust in the websites' ads. The top 5 User Advisory violations AdSecure detected in Q1 are as follows:

Threat Intelligence 34.6%: This detection is based on AdSecure’s Threat Intelligence service and reports if the URL was flagged for a violation in any AdSecure analysis in the previous 30 days.

Unsafe adult content 32.5%: This violation shows ads to end users that contain ad creatives featuring adult content which may contain elements such as nudity, pornographic images or cartoons, or sexual activities. Publisher sites do not want to show ad creatives featuring pornography to end users, unless it is an adult website. It is also potentially harmful for children to be exposed to these ads.

Suspicious TLD 23.1%: Free or suspicious top-level domains are frequently used by Cybercriminals who are setting up hosts for spam emailing, scams, shady software downloads, malware distribution, botnet operations and "phishing" attacks, or other suspicious content. 

IAB Standards 8.1%: The IAB Standards measure the performance of ads against the IAB Industry standards to stay Google compliant, more on this in our next section. 

Crypto ad 1.7%: As cryptocurrency advertising has been regulated by more and more countries, this AdSecure detection identifies misleading or non-compliant cryptocurrency promotions. 

IAB Standards and mobile advertising

AdSecure’s IAB Standards detections are crucial to ensure that ad networks and publishers are serving ads that meet the online advertising industry standards set by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). This can mean the optimal weight of an ad served, serving pixelated or squished ad creative images, etc. If an end user sees a squashed ad image for example, he is unlikely to click on the ad. Not only does this affect the professional image of the publisher's site that is serving the ad, but also the ad network that is supplying the demand. 

In total, 4.24% of all ads targeting mobile devices scanned by AdSecure in Q1 2023 showed that the ads did not meet the IAB industry standards. That's 1 in every 23 ads on mobile. Of the four IAB Standards AdSecure scans and detects, here are the percentages of each detection in Q1 2023:

IAB Standards and mobile advertising

Two particularly important IAB Standards are the Ad Dimensions and Ad Weight detections. For example, the mobile screen is small and therefore the ad creatives dimensions need to fit into the standard mobile ad format sizes for an optimal end user ad experience. Secondly, 53% of mobile users abandon a site if it is slow to load, and Google penalizes websites that load too slowly. If the website is serving heavier than the industry standard ad weights, this will slow down a mobile device, which could lead to Google rankings for the website being affected. 

Malvertising on mobile, the conclusion

According to Statista, in 2022, mobile advertising spend worldwide was estimated to be worth 336 billion US dollars. By 2023, the mobile advertising market is expected to grow to 362 billion US dollars, a growth of 7.73%. With such a high market value, mobile advertising is the biggest growth sector for ad networks and publishers to monetize. With this huge volume it is easy to see how and why Cybercriminals attack mobile users, they use various tactics to secretly inject malicious advertising campaigns into the ad supply chain. This is highly damaging for ad networks and publishers, not to mention the end user who ends up becoming a victim. As mobioes are now core to everyone's existence, if a Cybercriminal succeeds in infecting or taking over a mobile device, the effects can be devasting for the end user.

Now you can see how Cybercriminals attacked mobile users. So how do you protect mobile ads? AdSecure offers 360 degree monitoring and protection for your ad supply chain by automating your ad verification process before ad campaigns go live & while they are running. Why not start a free 14 day trial and find out how AdSecure can protect your business from Cybercriminals.