AdGuard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Adblock.
AdGuard
GenreUtility
Browser extension
Server
DNS resolver
Founded1 June 2009 Edit this on Wikidata
Headquarters
Cyprus Edit this on Wikidata
Websiteadguard.com

AdGuard is an ad blocking service for Microsoft Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android and iOS. AdGuard is also available as a browser extension.[1]

Features[edit]

AdGuard features include:

AdGuard Home[edit]

AdGuard Home acts as a recursive DNS resolver, which prevents most advertisements from displaying by responding with an invalid address for domains that appear in its filter lists.[2] It is similar to Pi-hole.[according to whom?]

AdGuard Browser extensions[edit]

The browser extension blocks video ads, interstitial ads, floating ads, pop-ups, banners, and text ads.[3] It is also able to handle anti-AdBlock scripts.[4]Adguard blocks spyware and warns users of malicious websites. AdGuard Content Blocker is an additional browser extension for Yandex Browser and Samsung Internet, which uses Content Blocker API. It downloads filter list updates and requests browsers to enforce them via Content Blocker API.[5]

AdGuard applications[edit]

AdGuard has Windows and Mac versions,[6] as well as native mobile versions for Android[7] and iOS. The application sets up a local VPN, which filters all traffic on the mobile device.

AdGuard DNS[edit]

AdGuard operates recursive name servers for public use. AdGuard DNS supports encryption technologies, including DNSCrypt, DNS over HTTPS, DNS over TLS, and DNS over QUIC.[8] AdGuard began testing DNS service back in 2016, and officially launched it in 2018.[9]

Server Description
Default Blocks advertisement and tracking domains.
Non-filtering Does not block advertisement and tracking domains, or any other DNS requests.
Family protection Blocks websites with adult content, enforces safe search in search engines wherever possible, and blocks advertisement and tracking domains.

Incidents[edit]

  • Distribution of AdGuard's app for Android was removed from Google Play at the end of 2014. It nevertheless is still being updated and has been made available for download from the developers’ own website.[10]
  • AdGuard for iOS received no updates from the summer of 2018[11][12] until summer 2019[13] due to Apple policies at the time against ad blocking via the iOS VPN APIs.
  • In September 2018, AdGuard was hit by credential stuffing attack. AdGuard claims that their servers were not compromised and instead attackers used credential pairs reused by victims on other sites and stolen from those other sites. According to company spokesperson, they "do not know what accounts exactly were accessed by the attackers", so the company had reset passwords for all accounts "as a precautionary measure". Also, AdGuard pledged to use "Have I Been Pwned?" API to check all new passwords for appearance in known public data leaks. Furthermore, they implemented more strict password security requirements.[14]

In November 2020, Microsoft Edge Store and Chrome web store[15] were infiltrated with fraudulent add-ons posing as various legitimate VPN browser add-ons, including NordVPN and AdGuard's VPN add-on.[16] Subsequently Microsoft and Google were alerted and actions were taken to remove the fake add-ons in the various browser stores.[17]

Research[edit]

AdGuard developers have taken up research in order to inform wider audiences on user privacy, cybersecurity and data protection. The following issues are cases involving the developers:

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Andrew Orr "AdGuard Pro is Being Discontinued due to App Store Policy" Archived September 21, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, MacObserver.com, July 23, 2018
  2. ^ Burns, Chris (2018-10-17). "AdGuard Home Is An Ad-And-Tracker Blocker For Your Home". SlashGear. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  3. ^ Eric Griffith "The 18 Best Firefox Quantum Extensions" Archived September 22, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, PC Magazine, February 12, 2018
  4. ^ James A. Martin "The best Google Chrome extensions" Archived December 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Computerworld, August 10, 2017
  5. ^ "AdGuard Content Blocker | Overview | AdGuard". adguard.com. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
  6. ^ Hougen, Aleksander. "The 8 Best Ad Blockers That Play Nice With Chrome, Safari, Firefox in 2020". Cloudwards. Cloudwards.net. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved 2020-12-08.
  7. ^ Painter, Lewis. "Best ad blocker for iPhone & iPad". MacWorld. IDG Communications Ltd. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  8. ^ Vasily Bagirov (2020-12-15). "AdGuard becomes the world's first public DNS-over-QUIC resolver!". AdGuard. Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved December 18, 2020.
  9. ^ "AdGuard officially releases its own DNS service, and it works with Android Pie". Android Police. 2018-12-29. Archived from the original on August 1, 2019. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
  10. ^ Daria Magdik "Google Removes Adguard App From Google Play" Archived May 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, AdGuard News, November 25, 2014
  11. ^ Orr, Andrew (2018-09-20). "Apple Won't Say Why It Blocked AdGuard and Freedom". The Mac Observer. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  12. ^ Raj, Abhishek (2019-06-05). "How to block ads on iPhone & iPad? Tips that work in 2022". Budding Geek. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
  13. ^ "AdGuard Pro for iOS is back from the dead!". Archived from the original on July 27, 2019. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  14. ^ McNamara, Tom (2018-09-21). "All AdGuard ad blocker account passwords have been reset to fight off hackers". CNET. Archived from the original on 4 December 2018.
  15. ^ Domanski, Harry (19 April 2018). "Google has kicked five malicious ad blockers off the Chrome Store". TechRadar.
  16. ^ Dan Goodin "Abusive add-ons aren’t just a Chrome and Firefox problem. Now it’s Edge’s turn" Archived December 9, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, ArsTechnica, November 21, 2020
  17. ^ "These VPN extensions are imposters that hijack your browser's search". Komando.com. 24 November 2020.
  18. ^ Michael Kan "Why Hackers Love Cryptocurrency Miner Coinhive" Archived December 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, UK.PCMag, November 29, 2017
  19. ^ Anthony Cuthbertson "Over 500 Million PCs Are Secretly Mining Cryptocurrency, Researchers Reveal" Archived November 1, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Newsweek, October 13, 2017
  20. ^ Charlie Osborne "500 million PCs are being used for stealth cryptocurrency mining online" Archived July 15, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Zero Day, October 13, 2017
  21. ^ Matthew Hughes "Facebook tracking is present in 41% of the most popular Android apps" Archived February 1, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, Thenextweb.com, March 23, 2018
  22. ^ Nadeem Sarwar "Is #DeleteFacebook Enough? Here’s the Harsh Truth About Facebook Tracking Through Apps" Archived September 24, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Beebom.com, March 27, 2018
  23. ^ Cal Jeffrey "AdGuard reports that 20 million Chrome users have malware infected ad blockers" Archived June 24, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Techspotl.com, April 19, 2018.
  24. ^ Harry Domanski "Google has kicked five malicious ad blockers off the Chrome Store" Archived October 12, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Techradar.com, April 19, 2018.
  25. ^ Rei Padla "GO Keyboard apps sends users’ data to servers and third parties, AdGuard says" Archived December 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, AndroidCommunity.com, September 23, 2017
  26. ^ Adarsh Verma "11 Million Android, iOS, Chrome, And Firefox Users Infected By Spyware: Delete These Apps Now" Archived December 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Fossbytes.com, July 26, 2018
  27. ^ Wagas Amir "Popular Android/iOS apps & Extensions collecting highly personal user data" Archived December 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Hackread.com, July 26, 2018
  28. ^ Catalin Cimpanu "Chrome Extensions, Android and iOS Apps Caught Collecting Browsing Data" Archived August 19, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, BleepeingComputer.com, July 25, 2018
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