Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Subscribe
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Video
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Subscribe
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    White Ops Raises $20M to Enhance Tech to Fight Online Ad Fraud

    Written by

    Sean Michael Kerner
    Published September 19, 2016
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

      White Ops announced Sept. 19 that it received $20 million in a Series B round of funding, which is earmarked for helping the company continue to expand its security platform for the online advertising industry, including investment in engineering as well as go-to-market efforts.

      Total funding to date for the company now stands at $33 million, with investments from Paladin Capital Group and Grotech Ventures.

      White Ops’ two product platforms, Fraud Sensor and MediaGuard, are focused on helping reduce the risk of online adverting fraud. In January, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and White Ops issued a report that estimated $7.2 billion will be lost to online advertising fraud in 2016.

      “Our mission is to break the central profit centers of cyber-crime,” Michael Tiffany, CEO and co-founder at White Ops, told eWEEK. “We’re focused on the incentive models, the idea being that we can make everyday internet users more secure if we make it less profitable for hackers to compromise them in the first place.”

      Online advertising, particularly advertising fraud, has become a top money maker for cyber-criminals, he said. With advertising fraud, advertisers pay for advertisements to be served and they end up being served to bots, rather than real consumers.

      If there is malware running on a consumer’s device, the malware could also read the user’s cookies, Tiffany explained.

      “What botnet operators are selling are visits by the ton,” Tiffany said. “So a botnet operator that has compromised machines will offer buyers millions of unique visitors per day.”

      The buyers of botnet traffic are aiming to increase the volume of visits to a given website or mobile app. The increased traffic, in turn, creates more advertising opportunities or potential inventory for advertisements to run.

      “The bot traffic doesn’t look like an anonymous bot horde, it looks like verifiable humans,”
 Tiffany said.

      White Ops operates a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) endpoint that performs malware detection, he explained. White Ops malware detection technology is embedded into online advertisements and provides advertisers and advertising platforms with some visibility into potentially fraudulent page views.

      “Our malware detection code rides along in an advertisement as a third-party ad call,” Tiffany said. “That gives us distribution across a massive number of ads that are served across the internet.”

      The White Ops code determines if the advertisement that is being displayed is being served to a real human or a malware-driven browser.

      White Ops uses a number of different methods to stay ahead of advertising fraud botnet operators. As such, even if a botnet had some form of JavaScript detection engine looking for White Ops code, the company has multiple techniques beyond just JavaScript to validate advertising delivery, Tiffany said.

      A key challenge for the online advertising industry is the growing use of ad-blockers by consumers, which is actually serving to help advertising fraud.

      “The effect of ad blocking is that it constrains the supply of advertising opportunities,” Tiffany said. “What we’re seeing now in the early days of this issue unfolding is that as supply is constrained, that actually is creating greater demand for botnet traffic to fill in the gap.”

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and writer for several leading IT business web sites.

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      Get the Free Newsletter!

      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Artificial Intelligence

      9 Best AI 3D Generators You Need...

      Sam Rinko - June 25, 2024 0
      AI 3D Generators are powerful tools for many different industries. Discover the best AI 3D Generators, and learn which is best for your specific use case.
      Read more
      Cloud

      RingCentral Expands Its Collaboration Platform

      Zeus Kerravala - November 22, 2023 0
      RingCentral adds AI-enabled contact center and hybrid event products to its suite of collaboration services.
      Read more
      Artificial Intelligence

      8 Best AI Data Analytics Software &...

      Aminu Abdullahi - January 18, 2024 0
      Learn the top AI data analytics software to use. Compare AI data analytics solutions & features to make the best choice for your business.
      Read more
      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Video

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2024 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.