Malvertising scanner
Malvertising scanner for ad networks and publishers
GoAdScanner opens the ads you serve in a real browser, from the countries and devices your visitors use, and reports the ones that redirect, pop up, ask for push permission, mine crypto or call malicious domains.
What malvertising looks like
Malvertising is advertising used to harm the visitor or hijack the page. On a site it usually shows up as one of these:
- Forced redirects. The ad breaks out of its frame and sends the whole page somewhere else, often to a fake prize or a fake virus warning.
- Pop-ups. New windows or tabs that open without a click.
- Push-permission prompts. The visitor is asked to allow notifications, and keeps getting ads long after leaving your site.
- Crypto miners. Mining code that runs in the visitor’s browser.
- Malicious domains. Scripts, redirects or landing pages on domains that security services list as harmful.
- Page tricks. Hidden frames or elements laid over the page to steal clicks, fingerprinting scripts and deliberately scrambled code.
Each of these is a finding type in a GoAdScanner report. See every finding GoAdScanner flags.
Why a quick check doesn't find it
Bad ads hide. They rotate in now and then between clean ones, they target a few countries or one kind of device, and their landing pages often show a clean version to anyone who doesn’t look like the targeted visitor. Opening a tag once from your office proves very little. GoAdScanner is built for that:
- It keeps scanning. A scan task runs daily, hourly or every minute, up to 60 times an hour or 300 times a day, so an ad that only rotates in now and then still gets caught.
- It scans as your visitors. Scans run through proxies in the countries you choose, with desktop, phone, tablet, smart-TV and other browser profiles. See checking ads from other countries.
- It follows the whole path. An Ad Scan renders the creative, clicks it and scans the landing page; a URL Scan follows a pop, redirect or push link to the final page; a VAST Scan follows the wrapper chain to the media file. See the landing page scanner.
- It checks every domain. Each domain the ad contacts, from the tag through every redirect to the landing page, is checked against a malware domain list, a domain-reputation service that combines many security engines, and Google Safe Browsing.
Built for whoever serves the ads
- Publishers scan the networks in their smart zones automatically, with their own site as the referrer, and switch off a network whose ads go bad.
- Ad networks and ad managers scan new ad tags, VAST feeds and partners before they go live, and keep checking them on a schedule.
- Sellers on real-time bidding record where winning bids send the visitor and scan those pages. See RTB ad quality.
When a visitor complains about a redirect, Domain Check shows on which of your ad zones the scanner has seen the domain they name, with how often and when it was last seen.
From finding to proof
Every scan writes a report: a verdict, a screenshot, the full chain of redirects and requests, and every finding with the URL it came from. The report has its own link that opens without a login, so you can send it to the network or advertiser that served the ad. They see exactly what you saw, including the country, device and browser.
GoAdScanner never blocks anything by itself. A wrong block on a shared domain silently costs revenue, so a person decides: switch off a smart zone, take a tag off your site, or stop a campaign or an RTB bid source. With Notify me about this task on, serious findings reach your notification channels, at most once every six hours per task.
More in the manual: Reading scan reports · Acting on findings.
How to set it up
- Ask us to switch GoAdScanner on for your GoAdserver platform: talk with our team.
- Publishers with smart zones: switch on Scanning enabled for the smart zones you want scanned.
- Create a scan task. Start with Hourly and one or two Total Scans.
- Switch on Location Proxy with the countries your traffic comes from.
- Switch on Notify me about this task with Serious findings only.
- Read the first reports, so you know what a clean scan of your inventory looks like.
The details are in how GoAdScanner works.
More in the manual: Ad Scanner overview · Setting up scan tasks.
Frequently asked questions
What is a malvertising scanner?
A tool that loads ads the way a visitor would and records what they do, so harmful ads are found before visitors meet them. GoAdScanner does this in a real browser, from the countries and devices you choose, and writes a report for every scan.
Does GoAdScanner block bad ads automatically?
No. It finds and reports. You decide what to switch off, and the report link gives the network or advertiser the proof they need to remove the ad for everyone.
Which ads can it scan?
Ad tags and HTML creatives such as banners and native ads, page and link URLs such as pop, redirect and push links, and VAST tags for video. Publishers can also scan the network codes in their smart zones automatically.
How much does it cost?
GoAdScanner is a module of the GoAdserver platform, not a separate subscription. Scans and proxy bandwidth count as usage on your platform. See how to get GoAdScanner.
Can I share a report with the network that served the ad?
Yes. Every report has its own link that opens without a login. Anyone with the link can open it, so share it only with the people who need it.
Keep bad ads off your traffic
GoAdScanner is part of GoAdserver. Tell us what you want to scan and we switch it on for your platform, or read the full manual first.