Ads that install spyware ran on 75,000 apps and 120,000 websites (citizenlab.ca)
Citizen Lab traced an Israeli ad platform, Discover-Tech, that won 442 million of 3.77 billion impressions it bid on in four months while spending only about $109,000. Advertiser conversions were essentially zero: the ads carried script tags that can hand code to a phone.
An adtech engineer with 13 years in the industry told the thread that vetting that traffic is "virtually impossible". A commenter who once sat in telco-versus-police meetings had heard that line before, and asked why billing is not impossible too.
Sign in to save