Here's How The Ad Industry Proposes To Stop Online Ad Fraud

From the quality of ad inventory to fraudulent traffic, ad fraud can cost brands and advertisers millions each year.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau released a new set of "Anti-Fraud Principles" on Tuesday, hoping to provide a set of guidelines to "root poor-quality ad traffic out of the system once and for all," according to a press release from the advertising trade organization.

According to the IAB, if suppliers (from supply side platfroms (SSPs) to ad networks) follow these guidelines, then fraud should quickly be stamped out of the industry.

It's a three-pronged solution. The three standards are fraud detection, source identification, and process transparency.

Here's how the IAB identifies those three sections on its website:

• Fraud Detection: Suppliers must implement technological and business practices to identify ad bots and illegitimate human activity, and prevent such traffic from being sold
• Source Identification: Suppliers should provide assurances to buyers that inventory is from a legitimate source; one way to achieve this is by providing the specific URL of an ad placement
• Process Transparency: Suppliers must provide details of the business and technical processes they have employed to meet the first two principles

These three points are also accompanied by a "proposed taxonomy," or set of defenitions for terms including "Hijacked Devices," "AdWare Traffic," and "Cookie-Stuffing."

An "Anti-Malware Working Group" has also been formed. This group will be tasked with identifying malware attacks and coming up with solutions to stop them.