Invalid traffic & fraud
Device spoofing
Device spoofing is faking the identity or type of device requesting an ad, such as a server posing as a smart TV or iPhone, to earn higher prices or dodge detection.
Every ad request carries claims about the device: its model, operating system, user agent, screen size, advertising ID and IP address. Device spoofing fabricates some or all of those claims. A data-center server might pose as a Roku, a Samsung TV or a new iPhone, because those devices attract premium bids, especially in CTV.
Spoofing can be crude (a fake user-agent string) or elaborate (rotating realistic device IDs, randomised screen parameters and residential IPs). It frequently travels with app spoofing and SSAI spoofing, and device ID resets are also used by device farms to make one phone look like thousands of new users.
Detection is about inconsistency. Genuine devices have coherent combinations: an iOS version that exists for that model, a browser engine that matches the claimed browser, network routes typical of home broadband. Signals include device fingerprinting mismatches, impossible OS-model pairs, data-center or proxy IPs, implausibly many device IDs per IP and device IDs first seen minutes ago at high volume. The MRC IVT guidelines treat this as SIVT.
Think of it like this
Device spoofing is like turning up to a black-tie event in a cardboard tuxedo: from across the room it passes, but up close the details do not match.
An example
A CTV buyer sees traffic labelled as a popular TV model running an OS version that the manufacturer never shipped for that model, from IPs belonging to a cloud host. The "TVs" are servers and the impressions are refunded.
Related terms
CTV fraud
CTV fraud is ad fraud targeting connected TV and streaming inventory, such as spoofed apps, fake devices, SSAI spoofing and infected streaming boxes, exploiting CTV's high prices and harder verification.
Device fingerprinting
Device fingerprinting is identifying or characterising a device from the combination of its technical attributes, such as browser, fonts, screen, graphics and network traits, instead of a stored cookie or ID.
App spoofing
App spoofing is misrepresenting which mobile or CTV app an ad slot belongs to, typically by faking the app's bundle ID, so cheap or fake inventory is sold as a popular app.
User agent
A user agent is the text string a browser or app sends with each request describing its browser, version, operating system and device, used for compatibility, analytics and fraud detection.
SIVT (sophisticated invalid traffic)
SIVT (sophisticated invalid traffic) is invalid traffic designed to look human or legitimate, which can only be found through advanced analytics, multi-point corroboration and often human review.
Sources: MRC Invalid Traffic Detection and Filtration Guidelines Addendum (2020 update)