AdGuard

AdGuard Software Limited develops a line of ad blocking and privacy protection software for blocking pop-ups, banners, and web tracking, obscene content, malware and phishing. Some of AdGuard products are open-source, some are free, and some are shareware. Some products support Microsoft Windows, Linux, OS X, Android and iOS. A cross-platform utility, AdGuard is also available as an extension for the most widely used browsers, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, Yandex Browser, and Microsoft Edge.[1]

AdGuard Software Limited
GenreUtility
Browser extension
Server
Founded1 June 2009 
Websiteadguard.com
Not to be confused with Adblock.

Products

AdGuard products include:

AdGuard Home

AdGuard Home acts as a recursive DNS resolver, which responds with an invalid address for domains that appear in its filter lists quests.[2] It is analogous to Pi-hole.

AdGuard Browser extensions

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

AdGuard applications

AdGuard has Windows; Android and Mac versions,[5] as well as native mobile versions for Android[6] and iOS.[7] The application sets up a local VPN, which intercepts and filters all traffic on the mobile device without sending it to a remote server.

AdGuard DNS

AdGuard hosts multiple free public DNS servers. Some of these servers provide DNS-level network filtering for blocking domains used for delivering advertisement, online tracking, analytics. The product supports encryption technologies, including DNSCrypt, DNS over HTTPS, DNS over TLS and DNS-over-QUIC.[8] AdGuard DNS also comes with an optional "Family Protection" mode for blocking access to websites with adult content as well as enforcing safe search in search engines.[9]

AdGuard began testing DNS service back in 2016, and officially launched it in 2018.[10]

Reception

While the company's products have earned positive feedback in several industry publications,[11] a series of policies by Google and Apple app stores occurred in 2014 - 2018, which impeded user access to AdGuard's mobile applications.

Macworld mentioned AdGuard for iOS in a list of five "best adblockers for iOS".[12]

In April 2020, Android Central stated that AdGuard uses "a little more processing power to do its thing than uBlock Origin", but it is "the best all-in-one blocking tool for someone who doesn't want to use more than one extension" because it blocks cryptomining. However, Android Central recommended uBlock Origin with a dedicated cryptomining blocker over AdGuard.[13]

Research

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

Incidents
  • Distribution of AdGuard for Android was discontinued by 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.[25]
  • AdGuard for iOS has not been updated since the summer of 2018 due to Apple policies against ad blocking, though it was still present in the Apple App Store.[26][27][28] In summer 2019, access to the updates of AdGuard's earlier edition for iOS was restored.[29]
  • 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 a more strict password security requirements.[30][31][32]

In November 2020, Microsoft Edge Store was infiltrated with fraudulent add-ons resembling add-ons for AgGuard VPN and few security products.[33]

References
  1. Andrew Orr "AdGuard Pro is Being Discontinued due to App Store Policy", MacObserver.com, July 23, 2018
  2. Chris Burns "AdGuard Home is an ad-and-tracker blocker for your home", SlashGear.com, October 17, 2018
  3. Eric Griffith "The 18 Best Firefox Quantum Extensions", PC Magazine, February 12, 2018
  4. James A. Martin "The best Google Chrome extensions", Computerworld, August 10, 2017
  5. Hougen, Aleksander. "The 8 Best Ad Blockers That Play Nice With Chrome, Safari, Firefox in 2020". Cloudwards. Cloudwards.net. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  6. Painter, Lewis. "Best ad blocker for iPhone & iPad". MacWorld. IDG Communications Ltd. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  7. Hindy, Joe. "5 best ad blocker apps for Android!". Android Authority. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
  8. Vasily Bagirov (December 15, 2020). "AdGuard becomes the world's first public DNS-over-QUIC resolver!". AdGuard. Archived from the original on December 17, 2020.
  9. "A look at AdGuard DNS - gHacks Tech News". www.ghacks.net. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  10. "AdGuard officially releases its own DNS service, and it works with Android Pie". Android Police. December 29, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  11. Pedro Castro "AdGuard 6.4 Controls intrusive ads and keeps your browsing history secure", Software.informer.com, October 29, 2018.
  12. Painter, Lewis. "The 5 best ad-blocking apps for iPhone & iPad". Macworld UK. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  13. "The best Chrome extensions to protect your online privacy and security". Android Central. April 30, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  14. Michael Kan "Why Hackers Love Cryptocurrency Miner Coinhive", UK.PCMag, November 29, 2017
  15. Anthony Cuthbertson "Over 500 Million PCs Are Secretely Mining Cryptocurrency, Researchers Reveal", Newsweek, October 13, 2017
  16. Charlie Osborne "500 million PCs are being used for stealth cryptocurrency mining online", Zero Day, October 13, 2017
  17. Matthew Hughes "Facebook tracking is present in 41% of the most popular Android apps", Thenextweb.com, March 23, 2018
  18. Nadeem Sarwar "Is #DeleteFacebook Enough? Here’s the Harsh Truth About Facebook Tracking Through Apps", Beebom.com, March 27, 2018
  19. 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.
  20. Harry Domanski "Google has kicked five malicious ad blockers off the Chrome Store", Techradar.com, April 19, 2018.
  21. Rei Padla "GO Keyboard apps sends users’ data to servers and third parties, AdGuard says", AndroidCommunity.com, September 23, 2017
  22. Adarsh Verma "11 Million Android, iOS, Chrome, And Firefox Users Infected By Spyware: Delete These Apps Now", Fossbytes.com, July 26, 2018
  23. Wagas Amir "Popular Android/iOS apps & Extensions collecting highly personal user data", Hackread.com, July 26, 2018
  24. 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
  25. Daria Magdik "Google Removes Adguard App From Google Play", AdGuard News, November 25, 2014
  26. Andrew Orr "AdGuard Pro is Being Discontinued due to App Store Policy", Macobserver.com, July 23, 2018
  27. Andrew Orr "Apple Won’t Say Why It Blocked AdGuard and Freedom", Macobserver.com, September 20, 2018
  28. Abhishek Raj "How to block ads on iPhone and iPad with AdGuard", Budding Geek, June 5, 2019
  30. Zack Whittaker "AdGuard resets all user passwords after account hacks", Techсrunch.com, September 20, 2018
  31. Catalin Cimpanu "AdGuard resets all user passwords after credential stuffing attack", ZeroDay, September 21, 2018
  32. Tom McNamara "All AdGuard ad blocker account passwords have been reset to fight off hackers", CNET, September 21, 2018
  33. Dan Goodin "Abusive add-ons aren’t just a Chrome and Firefox problem. Now it’s Edge’s turn", ArsTechnica, November 21, 2020
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