By Parmy Olson
Tech giants such as Google and Amazon.com Inc. are deploying
artificial intelligence to ferret out fraud on their platforms, but
some cybercriminals are outfoxing Silicon Valley with software that
is getting better at mimicking human behavior.
One group of developers running a Russian website advertises a
$100-a-month subscription to a browser called Linken Sphere.
Customers have used the software to get around fraud-detection
tools employed by Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Amazon and Facebook Inc.,
according to researchers and users of the tools. The browser allows
users to harness hundreds of stolen online accounts, purchased on
the dark web, to generate fake ad traffic or to boost online search
rankings and shopping reviews, those people say.
Another popular tool, AntiDetect, also costs $100 a month for a
subscription, and offers a $2,990 professional version. Its creator
charges an extra $100 a month for personal technical support,
servers and free configurations. A tool called Multilogin, created
by an Estonian-based company, can control up to 100 different
profiles. It charges 99 euros, about $110, a month. Customers can
pay more to have those profiles automated to behave in special
ways.
All these tools can be used for legitimate purposes, according
to researchers. They can be used by tech firms to look for
vulnerabilities and test their own defenses, for instance. But they
are also being used to evade fraud-detection defense for
illegitimate purposes, according to researchers and users.
Linken Sphere's creators didn't respond to several requests for
comment. On their website they say Linken Sphere can be used for
legitimate purposes. A spokesman for Antidetect said it was
unfortunate such programs were used by attackers, "but this should
not be regarded as the developer's fault."
Donat Voronin, chief executive of Multilogin Software Ltd.,
based in Tallinn, Estonia, said his company's browser was primarily
used for research by companies, nongovernmental organizations and
universities but that, like any software service, there were
"nonmainstream use cases."
Fraudsters have typically relied on complex computing software,
known as virtual machines, that allows them to anonymously direct
fake traffic to sites or ads, to then artificially boost product
ratings or reviews. Another long-used trick: Large networks of
hacked computers, known as botnets, can send fake traffic at these
targets.
Many big tech companies have come up with defenses to identify
these and other techniques, by looking more closely at the accounts
and using artificial intelligence to determine whether they are
active or not. If they aren't, that is a red flag and a sign of
possible fraud.
The new tools, however, can evade some of these AI-enabled
defenses. The tools essentially act like browsers -- alternatives
to Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer or Apple Inc.'s Safari --
that allow for the creation of hundreds of fake personas quickly
and cheaply, according to users of the tools, researchers and
discussion forums about them.
The browsers help carry out one of the most popular types of
online fraud -- spoofing traffic to online ads or social media
profile pages, thus increasing the value of those pages by making
them look more effective than they really are. Marketers are
expected to lose around $5.8 billion on ad fraud this year,
according to a report by the U.S. Association of National
Advertisers.
A spokesman for Facebook said the company was getting better at
spotting fake accounts, and that its detection technology helps
block millions of attempts to create fake accounts every day. A
Google spokesman said it has been researching anti-detection tools,
and that the company blocks most invalid traffic before it affects
advertisers. Amazon didn't respond to requests for comment.
Linken Sphere first emerged in 2017, according to researchers at
Recorded Future, a cybersecurity consulting firm based near Boston.
The developers behind the Russian-language site, who call
themselves the Tenebris Team, say on the site that it can be used
for legitimate purposes such as testing the defenses of
websites.
Linken Sphere's developers describe themselves online as
security engineers, but a YouTube ad for the product says the
service can "successfully bypass anti-fraud systems." Members of
the development team behind Linken Sphere give technical advice on
a dedicated chat channel anyone can join, with close to 6,000
members, on encrypted mobile messaging app Telegram. They
discourage discussion on that channel about how the software is
used, observations of the discussions show.
Fraudsters, though, can use the software to mimic the online
browsing and shopping habits of real people. For example, they can
send fake personas to visit different websites, click on various
links and ads, and leave five-star reviews. Such actions could help
boost the popularity of an ad or product, leading to increased
clicks and sales.
"It's like the wardrobe for someone who wants to do
impersonations," said Staffan Truve, Recorded Future's chief
technology officer. "You can pick the clothes and the mustache, and
which behavior you want to have."
Write to Parmy Olson at parmy.olson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 07, 2020 12:56 ET (17:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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