Forensiq Projects In-App Ad Fraud Will Surpass $1 Billion In 2015

Study Identifies "Mobile Device Hijacking", A New Ad Fraud Tactic That Threatens The Mobile Ad Ecosystem

News provided by

Forensiq

Jul 23, 2015, 10:00 ET

NEW YORK, July 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Forensiq, a leading ad fraud detection and prevention company, today, announced the findings of their recent study, uncovering a new type of ad fraud called "mobile device hijacking" which affects more than 12 million devices and 13% of global in-app pre-bid advertising inventory. This fraudulent activity is performed by mobile applications that rapidly load hidden ads and emulate human behavior, drawing many parallels to traditional botnets. Fraudsters collect payments from advertisers for these maliciously hidden ads.

The study includes a video demonstration of the behavior of the malicious apps, which was exposed by a custom packet capture and analysis tools. These tools allowed the Forensiq team to uncover that many apps launch on reboot, without the user loading the application.

Key findings from the study conducted include:

  • We project in-app fraud will surpass the $1 billion mark globally in 2015
  • Mobile advertisers are losing 13% of their ad spend to mobile device hijacking
  • 12 million mobile devices were flagged for fraudulent activity
  • 700 invisible ads loaded on a single hijacked device in an hour
  • Mobile device hijacking can cause a device to waste 2GB of data per day

"With mobile ad spending expected to overtake desktop spending in 2016, tracking fraudulent behavior and raising awareness to new threats such as mobile device hijacking is essential to building a more sustainable and overall safe advertising ecosystem," said David Sendroff, Founder & CEO of Forensiq. "We hope this study will open a discussion and bring all stakeholders together around the issue."

For more information on the study, including a full detailed report, please visit:
http://forensiq.com/mobile-app-fraud-study/

For a video link demonstrating the malicious app activity, please visit: https://vimeo.com/user28999497/forensiq-mobile-app-fraud-study

About Forensiq:

Forensiq is a fast growing company that has developed and implemented a series of effective solutions to help fight online click, conversion and ad fraud. The firm combines the latest technology plus a dedicated team of fraud fighters who are obsessed with helping clients stay steps ahead of the bad actors and achieve a better ROI. Forensiq is headquartered in New York City with offices in London and Silicon Valley. The company won three LeadsCouncil LEADER Awards in 2015 plus the 2014 LeadsCouncil LEADER Award for Best-In-Class for Fraud Detection. To learn more visit www.forensiq.com

SOURCE Forensiq

Related Links

http://www.forensiq.com

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