Decoy Advertisement Serving to Contain Invalid Activity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing solutions for detecting invalid activity in advertising platforms are inadequate, as they either fail to take action against detected fraud or allow attackers to modify their behavior upon detection, leading to financial loss and loss of advertiser trust.
Innovation Solution
The advertising platform continues to serve decoy advertisement objects to identified sources of invalid activity, which are processed differently and help track interactions as invalid, thereby keeping the attacker unaware and mitigating the fraud.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If the advertising platform blocks the identified source of invalid activity, then the financial loss from the attack is reduced, but the bad actor becomes aware of detection and modifies behavior to launch new attacks from different IP addresses
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies preliminary anti-action by serving decoy advertisement objects to the identified source of invalid activity before the attacker can modify their behavior. The decoys are designed to appear legitimate but contain tracking mechanisms that continue to identify and mitigate fraud while keeping the attacker unaware of detection, thus preventing them from adapting their attack strategy
Solution Approach 2:
The decoy advertisement objects serve as an intermediary between the advertising platform and the bad actor. These decoys allow the system to maintain engagement with the attacker while secretly tracking and mitigating their invalid activity, acting as a buffer that prevents direct confrontation and allows continued monitoring without alerting the attacker
2Reliability
If the advertising platform serves decoy advertisement objects to the identified source, then the bad actor remains unaware and continues to engage, but the platform must process and track these decoy interactions differently from regular advertisements
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the advertisement object processing by creating distinct pathways for regular advertisements versus decoy advertisement objects. Decoy objects are marked with special identifiers that trigger different processing logic, allowing the system to handle them separately while maintaining the overall advertising platform architecture. This segmentation enables differentiated tracking and processing without requiring complete system redesign
Solution Approach 2:
The decoy advertisement objects are created as copies of legitimate advertisement objects but with modified properties that identify them as decoys. These copied objects maintain the appearance and structure of real advertisements to deceive the attacker while containing embedded tracking mechanisms. The copying approach allows reuse of existing advertisement processing infrastructure with minimal modifications
3Ease of operation
If the platform detects invalid activity and issues credits to affected advertisers, then advertiser compensation is provided, but the financial loss to the platform and lost advertising opportunities are not remedied
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by proactively serving decoy advertisement objects to identified bad actors before they can cause further financial damage. This preventive measure stops the bleeding of platform resources by keeping attackers occupied with decoys, preventing them from attacking legitimate advertisements. The preliminary action occurs immediately upon detection, preventing future losses rather than merely compensating after the fact
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems for serving advertisement objects on an advertising platform are disclosed. The advertising platform detects invalid activity related to advertisement objects served in response to a request, and identifies a source associated with the invalid activity. In response to detection of the invalid activity, at least one decoy advertisement object is served in response to further requests originating from the identified source. The decoy advertisement object is an advertisement object that is processed by the advertising platform differently from regular advertisement objects that are served by the advertising platform in response to requests from other sources.