Hijacked Device

When a legitimate device (browser, phone, app) is hijacked for the purposes of carrying out fraud, that device is known as a hijacked device.

In digital advertising fraud, malware is installed on the device – either via a hijacked network the device is connected to or by a user clicking on a link – and this loads web pages or initiates ad requests that are not the result of browsing by the legitimate (human) user. This is done without the user’s control, knowledge, or consent. A hijacked device is used to fake website traffic, also known as sophisticated invalid traffic (SIVT).