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Ads Are Evil, But I'm Worse

Queens JS

I have never learned more about JavaScript and the web than when I've reverse engineered malicious advertisements.

This presentation describes a mysterious ad which I discovered after it tried to cover its tracks a little too conspicuously.

As the titles of my original blog post and presentation suggest, I first describe how JavaScript can be used to conclusively determine if a browser's JS console is open. And then I describe the terrible things I do with JS in an attempt to vaccinate pages against the technique.

I don't recommend the procedure to anyone, but then I also don't recommend running dozens of video ads ten-at-a-time hidden behind a static image to rack up fraudulent video ad impressions until the user's browser tab crashes. What? I'm not mad. 🙃