Fake browsers were then programmed so as to appear to be under the control of real users, using a fake mouse to scroll pages, start and stop videos playing and click on the adverts.
More than 5,000 domains were spoofed by the criminals to host the fake websites. The fake ads were loaded from more than 1,900 computer servers rented by the gangs in datacenters in Dallas, Texas and elsewhere. While sophisticated in the technological implementation of the fraud, the concept behind it is a simple enough one: sell advertising to legitimate customers but actually load those adverts on fake websites and have them viewed by fake consumers. And they were not alone in this endeavor it would now appear. The KovCoreG group as they became known were actively embarked on a campaign to create fake websites, and fake visitors to those websites, in order to maximize profit from this fraudulent advertising revenue. However, the criminal group behind it were not just targeting Pornhub.
The malvertising attack, using malicious adverts that tricked users into downloading fake updates to their web browser software, was shut down quickly once Pornhub and the Traffic Junky advertising network were alerted to it by researchers from security specialists Proofpoint. That Pornhub hack managed to fly under the radar for more than a year before being discovered, by which time millions of users had been exposed to more than just porn.
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