Unveiling our latest detection - Blacklisted URL

As part of our mission to build a safer digital world, this week we are pleased to roll out our newest security detection, which plugs into a multitude of web and antivirus blacklists to provide deeper insight into the security -- or lack thereof -- of every URL in a given ad redirection chain.

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Inside AdSecure: Let’s talk about callback URL notifications

Welcome to Inside AdSecure! This is the first article in a new ongoing series that will dive into different aspects of the platform, to ensure our partners always get the most out of our solution.

For this first installment we are taking a look at one of three options you can use to be notified in real-time whenever AdSecure uncovers violations lurking within your ad campaigns: the callback URL.

The Fundamentals: Setting up a callback URL notification
In addition to receiving real-time email alerts, or AWS simple notifications when AdSecure scans detects user experience or security violations, you also have the option to set up a callback notification that expands the choices for triggering a notification. Using a callback URL notification allows you to opt for the below triggers, depending on your preference:

- ON_VIOLATION: receive a notification when one or several violations are detected during the analysis.

- ON_ALERT: receive a notification when a single alert gets triggered during the analysis.

- ON_DONE: receive a notification upon completion of the analysis

- ON_ERROR: receive a notification when the analysis has failed to complete

When choosing to use the callback URL function, it’s important to remember that you also have to setup a URL to your endpoint that can process the notifications coming from our callbacks.

Callbacks can currently be configured through the GUI, in the notification section, or via AdSecure’s API (learn more here: https://docs.adsecure.com/docs/guides/notification-service.html)

All notifications will be sent as POST requests and include a JSON payload. Here is an example of a result posted to the Callback URL:

{
  "id": "random_id_DUtMjNUMDk6NTY6MTguMTEwWg==",
  "report": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/adsecure/analysis/year=2019/month=1/day=1/random_id_DUtMjNUMDk6NTY6MTguMTEwWg==.json",
  "trigger": "ON_VIOLATION"
}

The Pro-tip: Halt bad campaigns in real-time using a callback URL
One of the most effective ways to use a callback URL is to design it to halt a compromised campaign running on your network in real-time. Configuring your endpoint to suspend a campaign the moment an AdSecure scan detects malicious activity means users are no longer in danger of engaging with a bad ad that could forcefully redirect them to another site, or even worse, infect their system with a destructive malware. Better still, once you have configured your endpoint to halt bad campaigns, the callback allows you to automate this going forward using a simple flow, like this:

  • Create an alert rule with the violations corresponding to your guidelines (see: https://docs.adsecure.com/docs/guides/custom-alert-rules.html)
  • Then create a callback that would be triggered “ON_ALERT”
  • Next, create scan(s) and attach the alert rule and the callback
  • Finally, get your endpoint ready to listen to callbacks in order to take custom actions on your side. (e.g. suspend a campaign)

Thanks to the report that comes with each and every callback,  you can take more advanced actions, like parsing the data to find the relevant information you need to resolve the issue permanently.

If you would like additional support with setting up Callback notifications, or want to learn more about other custom actions that are possible via this feature, please contact us at support@adsecure.com