Click Network

What Does Click Network Mean?

A click network refers to an arrangement whereby cybercriminals arrange to have networks of computers click through online ads in order to increase their revenue from advertisers. A click network may be made up of people running a network of computers programmed to click certain sites at set intervals. However, infected computers that are part of a botnet have also been used to perpetrate this type of click fraud.

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Techopedia Explains Click Network

Hackers with large numbers of computers unwittingly tied into a botnet can rent them out to criminal organizations to carry out click fraud. The cybercriminal will set up a skeleton site, usually with nothing but ads, and then have the botnet PCs click away. Although a certain percentage of the revenue generated is likely to be written off as click fraud rather than paid clicks, the fraudsters can keep the scam going on longer by rotating the botnet clicks through different sets of skeleton websites.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…