Open-Source Ad Fraud Intelligence Feed Raises the Bar for Invalid Traffic Detection

A new open-source intelligence feed dedicated to ad fraud indicators is set to help security teams and ad platforms identify invalid traffic more quickly, highlighting just how serious the threat from fake impressions and fake clicks has become. For PPC advertisers, this move underlines a clear message: if you are not actively monitoring and blocking invalid traffic, your budgets and your reporting are at risk.

What Pixalate’s AdFraud IOC-DB Means For Invalid Traffic

Pixalate has introduced what it positions as the ad industry’s first open-source indicator-of-compromise database focused on ad fraud and invalid traffic. Branded as an AdFraud IOC-DB, it is designed primarily for fraud researchers, developers and system administrators who need structured threat data that can plug into security and ad tech tools.

From ClickPatrol’s perspective, this launch is part of a broader shift where ad fraud is increasingly treated as a cybersecurity problem, not just a marketing annoyance. The fact that an open feed is being provided for security teams shows how closely invalid traffic now overlaps with malware, compromised devices and organized schemes that exploit ad platforms.

Key Highlights From The AdFraud IOC-DB Launch

Based on Pixalate’s announcement, several elements stand out for PPC and media buyers:

• The feed aggregates indicators of compromise related specifically to ad fraud and invalid traffic activity, including data linked to devices, apps and other entities.
• It is distributed as an open-source resource, allowing integration into existing cybersecurity workflows and threat intelligence platforms.
• The project draws on Pixalate’s ongoing work monitoring programmatic advertising and app ecosystems, where it tracks billions of signals each month across devices and supply sources.
• The focus covers both traditional ad fraud patterns and invalid traffic in connected environments such as CTV and mobile apps, which have grown rapidly in spend in recent years.
• The stated goal is to help organizations proactively detect and mitigate ad-related threats rather than relying only on retrospective analytics.

Why PPC Advertisers Should Pay Attention To IVT Threat Intelligence

For most PPC teams running Google Ads, Meta Ads or Microsoft Ads, threat feeds can feel distant from day-to-day campaign optimization. Yet the same entities flagged in an IOC database often sit behind suspicious clicks, fake accounts and automated browsing that drain search and social budgets.

Invalid traffic does not just inflate click counts. It distorts conversion rates, misguides bidding strategies and hides which keywords or audiences genuinely perform. If you are retargeting audiences polluted with fake users, you end up bidding aggressively on segments that will never buy.

When security specialists gain access to open-source ad fraud indicators, they can share more precise IP ranges, app identifiers and device fingerprints with marketing teams. That collaboration makes it easier to tighten filters, refine exclusion lists and validate whether an unexpected performance spike is organic or driven by fraudulent activity.

How Open Ad Fraud Feeds Connect With ClickPatrol’s Protection

Threat intelligence feeds like AdFraud IOC-DB sit at the network and infrastructure layer, feeding data to security and ad tech systems. ClickPatrol complements that approach by working where PPC teams feel the impact: at the click level inside your campaigns.

Our detection methods evaluate each click on Google Ads, Meta and Microsoft Ads using behavioral patterns, engagement depth, timing signals and repetition. When we see that traffic matches known fraud profiles or shows abnormal behavior, we block it in real time to stop repeat abuse.

By combining broader threat indicators with granular click level analysis, advertisers can:

• Cut wasted spend from bots, click farms and incentivized traffic that security logs alone may not fully capture.
• Restore confidence in performance metrics so optimization decisions are based on real user behavior.
• Scale winning keywords, audiences and creatives without fear that performance gains are fueled by invalid traffic.

If your organization is investing in threat intelligence or following developments like the AdFraud IOC-DB launch, it is a strong signal that you should also harden your PPC campaigns. ClickPatrol gives you a practical way to connect that security mindset to everyday media buying, with automatic protection that blocks fake and abusive clicks and keeps your reporting cleaner.

Practical Steps For Advertisers Responding To Rising IVT

Based on what we see across PPC accounts, advertisers that treat invalid traffic as a strategic risk tend to follow a few core practices:

• Regularly audit placement, app and domain reports to spot anomalies, especially traffic clusters that appear quickly and show poor engagement.
• Align with security or IT teams to understand whether internal incident reports overlap with spikes in ad activity or unusual geographies.
• Use a dedicated click protection platform like ClickPatrol to automatically block repeated abusers, suspicious IPs and patterns tied to fake clicks.
• Reassess budget allocation when new data shows that certain channels, apps or publishers attract higher rates of invalid traffic.
• Build internal processes that treat IVT as an ongoing risk, not a one time clean up project.

Open projects like AdFraud IOC-DB highlight how quickly fraud tactics evolve. For PPC teams, the key takeaway is clear: rely less on surface metrics, get closer to the raw click behavior and ensure your campaigns are shielded by active protection. Advertisers who do that will see cleaner data, stronger optimization signals and more room to scale with confidence.

For brands and agencies that want to put this into action, you can start a free trial of ClickPatrol or speak with us to review where click fraud and invalid traffic may already be affecting your Google Ads, Meta and Microsoft Ads performance.

Abisola

Meet Abisola! As the content manager at ClickPatrol, she’s the go-to expert on all things fake traffic. From bot clicks to ad fraud, Abisola knows how to spot, stop, and educate others about the sneaky tactics that inflate numbers but don’t bring real results.

View all posts by Abisola (Abisola)

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