SilverPush

Silverpush
Screenshot
Type of business Private
Founded September 2012 (2012-09)
Headquarters Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Area served India, Japan, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Egypt, Dubai, Malaysia, Vietnam, Tanzania
Founder(s) Hitesh Chawla, Mudit Seth & Alex Modon [1]
CEO Hitesh Chawla
Industry Advertisement
Products Javelin, Prism, Parallels, DSP & Hexa
Services Real-Time Ad-Sync across all digital channels, Smart User Targeting, End-to-End Online Growth Solutions for Emerging Businesses
Website www.silverpush.co
Current status Online

Silverpush is an advertisement company based near Delhi, India, which develops cross-device tracking and targeted advertising products, including inaudible ultrasonic audio beacons.

The company was founded in September 2012, by Hitesh Chawla, Mudit Seth & Alex Modon. After starting push notification advertisement in 2013, it launched India’s first DSP platform in 2014. The company is backed by IDG Ventures, Palaash Ventures, Fabrice Grinda, K.Ganesh, 500 Startups, M&S Partners and Freak Out Inc, Japan.

As of June 2018, the company operated in 11 countries, working with 100+ clients and employing over 100 people. It covers over 13,000 ads, across 400+ channels per day.

Technology

  • Filed for 10+ patents, for proprietary technology products.
  • Real-time ad sync across all digital channels.
  • Near real-time detection - 1 sec detection time.
  • Innovative video fingerprint matching technology to detect TV ads in real-time.
  • 95%+ accuracy in ad detection.[2]

Privacy implications

The use of SilverPush to track users across multiple devices has privacy implications and allows for more detailed tracking of users. Data can be collected from multiple devices used by a single user and correlated to form a more accurate picture of the person being tracked.[3]

History

In April 2014, Geektime reported that SilverPush had raised $1.5 million in funding to increase global reach.[4]

In July 2014, TechCrunch reported that SilverPush was using "ultrasonic inaudible sounds" called "audio beacons" along with cookies to reliably track users across multiple devices and that devices with an app containing the SilverPush SDK are constantly listening for audio beacons.[5]

In April 2015, SilverPush claimed 67 apps were using its code.[6]

In October 2015, the Center for Democracy and Technology submitted comments to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding SilverPush's cross-device tracking technology.[7][2]

In March 2016, the FTC issued warning letters to 12 app developers using SilverPush code in their apps.[8] The FTC warned these developers that they may be violating the FTC Act if they state or imply that their apps are not tracking television viewing habits when they in fact are. Shortly after the FTC warning, SilverPush made an official statement that they are ending the Unique Audio Beacon service.[9][6] However, as of 21 March 2016, SilverPush is still advertising Unique Audio Beacon on their website.[6]

In November 2016, researchers from UCL, UCSB and PoliMI demonstrated the security and privacy implications of the ultrasound cross-device tracking (uXDT) technology used by SilverPush.[10] The most notable of their attacks uses uXDT-enabled applications to deanonymize Tor users.[11]

In May 2017 SilverPush technology was again the subject of research: "A team of researchers from the Brunswick Technical University in Germany discovered [234] Android apps that employ ultrasonic tracking beacons to track users and their nearby environment. Their research paper focused on the technology of ultrasound cross-device tracking (uXDT)."[12][13]

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://inc42.com/flash-feed/meet-the-6-indian-startup-who-will-be-taking-their-rocketships-to-the-uk/. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. 1 2 "How TV ads silently ping commands to phones: Sneaky SilverPush code reverse-engineered". The Register. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Beware of ads that use inaudible sound to link your phone, TV, tablet, and PC". Ars Technica. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  4. ↑ "SilverPush raises $1.5M with plans to grow in the U.S." Geektime. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "SilverPush Says It's Using "Audio Beacons" For An Unusual Approach To Cross-Device Ad Targeting". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  6. 1 2 3 "Creepy Ad Company Says It Will Stop Eavesdropping With 'Audio Beacons'". Vice. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Re: Comments for November 2015 Workshop on Cross - Device Tracking" (PDF). Center for Democracy and Technology. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  8. ↑ "FTC Issues Warning Letters to App Developers Using 'Silverpush' Code". Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Silverpush Quits Creeping World Out, Ceases Tracking TV Habits Via Inaudible 'Beacons'". Forbes. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  10. ↑ Vasilios Mavroudis; et al. "Talking behind your Back: Attacks and Countermeasures of Ultrasonic cross-device Tracking". Black Hat Europe 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  11. ↑ Vasilios Mavroudis; et al. "On the Privacy and Security of the Ultrasound Ecosystem" (PDF). https://ubeacsec.org. Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies. Retrieved 26 November 2017. External link in |website= (help)
  12. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin. "234 Android Applications Are Currently Using Ultrasonic Beacons to Track Users". bleepingcomputer.com. bleepingcomputer.com. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  13. ↑ Arp, Daniel. "Privacy Threats through Ultrasonic Side Channels on Mobile Devices" (PDF). http://christian.wressnegger.info/. Retrieved 4 April 2017. External link in |website= (help)
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