At AdSecure we are always looking at new ways to help our partners assess the quality of their digital ad supply chain, both to monitor for malicious activity that can threaten a user’s security, but also to ensure that their experience when engaging with ads is always a positive one. It’s with this goal in mind that we developed our newest user experience detection: Uncommon Protocols.

What is an Uncommon Protocol?
Common protocols -- such as TCP/IP, DHCP, DNS, and HTTP -- are frequently used by two devices connected and engaged in an exchange of information. However, in some cases these communications can have an uncommon protocol within the exchange, and when this occurs, these uncommon protocols can often be implemented to activate undesirable actions that can frustrate a user when visiting websites, leading to a poor experience that will likely see the user stop visiting the site overtime if the issues persist. 

Uncommon protocols can lead to automatic prompts to open or send a message in Facetime or via SMS, launch Skype calls, or automatically open apps like iTunes without the user consenting to the action. While not particularly dangerous, they are very annoying to have to deal with. No one wants to have their default email client launch on whatever device they're using every time they visit a website plagued with uncommon protocol problems. 

With the ability to detect when an uncommon protocol is involved within a particular ad creative, publishers and the ad platforms they partner with can ensure that a forced prompt to open Whatsapp, or send an SMS, is uncovered and dealt with before it has a chance to drive annoyed users away from the affected sites, ensuring users keep visiting, which in turn protects revenue streams. 

AdSecure’s new detection for Uncommon Protocols is available now for all AdSecure clients. For a full list of what we classify as an uncommon protocol, clients can contact support@adsecure.com