05.07.08
Click fraud programs that artificially generate traffic
Here is an interesting post on Security Fix that highlights just how simple it is to artificially generate traffic to any website for the purpose of economic gain.
Set up a free account at Robotraff and you’re ready to buy or sell Web traffic. Got 30,000 hacked personal computers under your thumb? Super! Now you can use those systems to generate a steady income just by pointing them at Web sites requested by a buyer.
Or maybe you’re just getting started and you can’t be bothered to build your own army of hacked PCs the old-fashioned way? No problem! Now you can set up a Web site that tries to exploit Web browser or browser plug-in vulnerabilities and simply buy all the traffic you need.
Robotraff is basically an exchange or a marketplace that puts traffic buyers in touch with traffic generators. Traffic buyers are site owners who have relationships with various ad networks and can turn a profit by generating traffic to their site. Traffic generators are bot or malware controllers who can direct thousands of “users” to any site at the right price. As long as the price buyers pay for the traffic is less than the revenue they make from the ads on their site, its a guaranteed money tree (at the cost of the advertisers of course).
At Anchor Intelligence, we’ve detected thousands of publishers who have been linked to programs such as these. And the massive scale and sophistication of these operations is quite daunting.
04.23.08
Anchor Intelligence Launches ClearMark
We got some great coverage on our launch of ClearMark today on JackMyers.com. ClearMark is Anchor’s real-time traffic scoring system that integrates with ad network’s web servers, billing systems, and reporting systems. Its been in limited beta since the beginning of the year and is now available to the public.
Check it out at http://anchorintelligence.com/solutions.html.
04.01.08
Great Gmail April Fool’s Day Joke
I’ve noticed a few creative April Fool’s Day jokes around the web today. I was tickled by the CNET article about Techcrunch acquiring TigerBeat and naming it CrunchKids. I loved the hilarious pot shots taken at Arrington by a few of us buddies. I was particularly amused by Gmail’s new feature, Custom Time Setting. I love their explanation for why you can only use the feature 10 times. Good stuff!
03.31.08
Anyone know a good Product Marketing Manager?
Anchor Intelligence is looking for a rock star product marketing manager to lead outbound marketing and branding efforts. We’ve built a kick-ass product that is ready to be unleashed to the online advertising world. Now we’re looking for the right person to help get our Click Quality Management System to the right customers.
If you or someone you know is interested in a launching new products, building a world-class brand, working with serial entrepreneurs, and developing game-changing innovations, then look no further. Interested folks should apply at jobs@anchorintelligence.com.
http://www.anchorintelligence.com/careers.html#product
Product Marketing Manager
Anchor Intelligence is looking for a smart, passionate, and experienced Product Marketing Manager to develop and execute results-driven marketing strategies. You will be managing outbound messaging and positioning for a suite of complex analytical and reporting solutions. The ideal candidate is self-motivated, intellectually curious, and an expert in online advertising, with direct experience working for an ad network or agency and/or managing SEM/SEO campaigns.
_________________________________________
Responsibilities:
- Develop and execute marketing strategy for a highly analytical product suite; drive pricing framework,
rationalize product portfolio, and manage competitive positioning
- Build and document repeatable product execution framework; support solutions sales efforts via proposal
development, pitch strategy, and other collateral
- Serve as liaison with key strategic clients. Build ROI framework, coordinate case studies and cultivate a
referenceable client list
- Execute outbound marketing campaigns including website updates, conference presence, PR and search
engine marketing/optimization; manage and monitor progress of campaigns by developing metrics, and
tracking and assessing performance
- Manage branding execution projects such as logos, taglines, graphical elements, and style guide
Qualifications:
- Proven expertise in online advertising and/or search marketing; ability to understand and articulate how
the end to end online advertising experience works from targeting through to conversion tracking
- Proven track record of developing and implementing successful marketing plans; methodical in
measuring and communicating ROI
- Excellent written, quantitative, and interpersonal skills; ability to collaborate with a highly technical team
and customer base
- Willingness to take on a range of projects to support the business in a fast-paced dynamic environment
- Customer obsessed, results driven mentality
Required Experience:
- BA or BS required. MBA preferred
- 5+ years product marketing experience working directly for an ad/targeting network, via direct SEM/SEO
campaign management, or through an agency
About the Company:
Anchor Intelligence provides advertising networks and advertisers with a pioneering solution for identifying click fraud. Anchor combines cutting edge science with the aggregation of data and characteristics from networks, search engines, and advertisers into one complete scalable solution.
Anchor Intelligence values honesty and integrity in dealing with each other and with our partners and customers. We offer competitive salaries, 401K, stock options, and health, dental, and vision plans. And of course, we provide an opportunity to work with world-class fraudfighters, systems builders, and serial entrepreneurs.
All positions are for our office in Mountain View, CA.
If you are interested in being part of the Anchor Intelligence team, please contact us at
jobs[at]anchorintelligence.com.
12.09.07
Fraudwall Technologies is now Anchor Intelligence
Its official! Fraudwall Technologies is now Anchor Intelligence.
Why the name change? There are several reasons:
1. Click fraud is only a part of our offering. Our ability to also identify and report on high quality clicks (the inverse of click fraud) is what really sets us apart. And the opportunities in the click quality space are tremendous!
2. The name Fraudwall has negative connotations. From a semantics perspective, brands that have positive affinities are much more compelling (e.g. Veritas, Verisign, Trustee all emphasize building trust, as opposed to blocking security threats)
3. Phonetically, Fraudwall was difficult to prouncounce. We were sick of correcting people who thought we were in the business of building walls for frogs. 
So what’s the story behind the new name? We chose Anchor Intelligence because we felt it captured characteristics of our approach, products, and position in the market. Anchor conveys meanings such as grounded, foundational, strong. We wanted to convey that our assessment of click quality is rooted in sound methodology. Going forward, we expect to establish the industry standard for click quality assessment. Intelligence highlights that our customers become part of an extremely powerful intelligence network once they come on board. Our models and algorithms are developed using intelligence from across the web (traffic patterns, reputations, network forensics, etc).
Arrington over at Techcrunch just blogged about the company and name change here.
11.30.07
Cingular 2125 broken joystick fix
Even though I’m no longer at Microsoft, I’m still using my Cingular 2125 Smartphone (the default phone of choice for most Softies). While I’ve thought about upgrading to a better phone (or at least one with a QWERTY keyboard), I’ve resisted the urge. However, for the past few months, my 2125 has been driving me crazy because the joystick would not respond. It didn’t matter how hard I pushed my fingernai into the damn thing… the cursor would not budge. This made it virtually impossible to do anything with the phone besides dialing b/c every function required use of the joystick.
Luckily, I found the cure here. Believe it or not, if you blow really hard on the joystick, you’ll remove dust from the sensors and your 2125 joystick will return to its normal functional state. This works flawlessly! Talk about low-tech solutions! This brings me back to the days when i used to blow on my Atari 2600 Combat cartridge when it wouldn’t work. Who knew?
11.07.07
Windows Live IDs are now available!
Wow… its been a long time since I’ve blogged. I’ve been pretty swamped these days but here’s a quick post with some noteworthy info.
Ever want to get a simple email address with your first and last name but every combination you tried as taken? Well, Microsoft just released their @live.com domains which you can use for Messenger, Hotmail, or any other Live service. Simply go to http://get.live.com/mail/options and sign up for a new email address. (Make sure you’re logged out of any existing MSN/Hotmail account in order to sign up). The namespace is still fairly unpopulated so chances are, you can find one that you like.
When I was at Microsoft, I was always asked when the @live.com domains would be released. Even though I’m no longer a Softie, I thought I’d spread the good news.
07.05.07
So long Hotmail, Hello Fraudwall
Last month, I took the plunge and decided to leave Microsoft to join a very early stage start-up called Fraudwall Technologies as the Director of Product Management & Marketing. Having just completed the launch of Windows Live Hotmail at the end of May, I was ready to take on a whole new set of challenges. Ron Conway, the angel investor who had funded Vividence, (the company where I worked from 1999-2002) is both an investor and co-founder of Fraudwall; he approached me about joining the team and after over a month of research and interviews, I was convinced Fraudwall was the perfect next step for me.
Fraudwall is developing technology to enable ad networks, advertisers, and agencies the ability to assess click quality on their sites, thereby ensuring that ad dollars are spent on valid visitors and not on click fraud.
As you may have noticed, click fraud has increasingly been in the spotlight over the past year. Estimates for the percentage of online traffic that is considered fraudulent range from as low as 0.02% (per Google) to as high as 34% (per the China IntelliConsulting Corp ). The reality is likely somewhere in between and our goal at Fraudwall is to develop the technology, backed by a sound methodology, to provide the source of truth for the industry.
I’m joining a rockstar team of engineers and scientists, as well as an impressive network of investors and advisors. I psyched about the potential for Fraudwall to change the face of online advertising. Stay tuned for more news. In the meantime… WE’RE HIRING!
06.26.07
Got my invitation to Spock.com today
Recently, I’ve heard a lot of buzz around Spock.com, a people search engine that indexes the web and creates profile pages for users to update organically. I got my invitation today and checked it out. I’m not too impressed with their indexing and ranking capabilities but I’ll give them a bit more time to build up critical mass. I did find searches on very famous celebrities to be fairly rich, but searches for more ordinary, but notable folks, was pretty scant.
One interesting feature of Spock is the ability to claim a profile as yours by providing the site with your LinkedIn user name and password. That’s a bit intrusive don’t ya think? They’re asking that you hand over your log in credentials from a very established professional networking site, just to claim your profile on a relatively obscure people search engine. Seems fishy to me. The thought of giving carte blanche access to my entire professional network and profiles on LinkedIn to Spock does not feel like an even value exchange.
The founders are Wharton grads so I’ll be rooting for them… for now.
06.19.07
Google street level maps are kinda scary
Google recently released their Google Street View Maps and I’ve had a blast playing around with them. I’ve looked up my favorite streets in San Francisco to see how they were captured by Google. I’ve also tried to see if I can find anyone I know captured in the footage. I must admit, the level of detail and the panoramic veiws on Google maps are truly groundbreaking.
However, as you may imagine, the privacy police are all over this. While I personally don’t feel that Google has violated any privacy rights, I can understand how many people may be opposed to these street level views. Once you realize the level of detail that the zoom views can provide, there is this gut reaction of, “wow… thats creepy.”
Below is a screen capture of a street crossing at the Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco. As you can see, the viewer can zoom in to see as much detail as they wish. In this case, you can literally make out the faces of people at the cross walk at 206 Jefferson street. Yikes!
