Inside a Dark Adtech Empire Fed by Fake CAPTCHAs
Summary: Qurium's November 2024 investigation found the Kremlin-backed Doppelganger disinformation network relied on a domain cloaking service that shared infrastructure with VexTrio, described as the oldest malicious traffic distribution system, and with the affiliate networks LosPollos and TacoLoco. A December 2024 GoDaddy report found nearly 40 percent of compromised websites in 2024 redirected visitors to VexTrio via LosPollos smartlinks, and after LosPollos suspended its push monetization service in November 2024, Infoblox reported a rise in fake CAPTCHAs driving push notification signups, particularly from Partners House.
Why it matters: Infoblox's Renee Burton ties these TDSs to delivery of information stealers and scams costing consumers billions of dollars a year, and says Russian organized crime controls malicious adtech - with hundreds of thousands of compromised websites redirecting victims into that web annually.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
- Topics
- Data Breaches
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