Click Hijacking Threatens E-Business

Click Hijacking Threatens E-Business

By Theodore F. di Stefano
http://www.EcommerceTimes.com
Part of the ECT News Network
02/04/05 5:00 AM PT

Scammers apparently find it relatively easy to create software that generates these false clicks on ads. In fact, some of them are becoming so sophisticated that the clicks that they are creating somehow fall under the “radar” of the search engine gatekeepers.

Well, we have yet another definition to add to our technology lexicon: click hijacking. With the advent of powerful and profitable search engines, like Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) , Internet schemers have come up with yet another way to illegally make a buck.

This article looks at this new phenomenon, what gave rise to it, how it works and what companies are doing to prevent it, root it out and prosecute the perpetrators.

First of all, what gave rise to this new form of Internet treachery? The simple answer is greed. Malefactors began to realize that a good deal of money was being made on Internet advertising. In fact, PricewaterhouseCoopers recently estimated that the industry realized more than US$9 billion in revenue last year alone. Not bad.

Please read the remainder at the above link. It’s very interesting.