Introduction
OddBytes has a zero tolerance policy for Creatives which are flagged for malware by an AntiVirus (AV) company. If your Creative has been flagged by an AV company, the Creative will be rejected and remain rejected until every flag has been removed or the Creative URL has been updated to one that is clean.
Please Note: Repeated violations of OddBytes' malware policies may result in temporary or indefinite suspension.
Review Process
Our Compliance team uses several AV companies and aggregators to review a Creative to ensure every URL is clean and free of flags.:
Creative URL
All redirect URLs
Final landing page URL
Second page (page in flow that comes after a user clicks on the landing page)
This review applies to every newly submitted and resubmitted Creative, but the team will periodically review all active Creatives to ensure no new flags have appeared post-approval.
Additional review details:
An automated review process is performed on every URL in the network to check for malware against antivirus programs. If your Creative is found to be flagged as malware, it will be automatically rejected and a manual review will be performed. If it was falsely flagged, the Creative be will be activated. If a flag is present, the Creative will be re-rejected with additional information so that the flag(s) can be resolved.
If all or the majority if your account's Creatives are found to be flagged, your account may be paused rather than reject each individual Creative. If this occurs, you will be informed of the account pause so that work can be done to resolve the issue(s). Once the Creatives' issues have been resolved, please contact your Account Representative for a compliance review.
Repeated Violations
If your account exceeds OddBytes' malware violation thresholds, the following actions will take place:
Platform Message: A message will be present within your account to inform you that the account is under review. It will persist for as long as the thresholds are exceeded.
Warning: If your account continues to exceed thresholds, a warning will be sent via email to the email address listed on your company's contact details.
Temporary Suspension: If your account continues to exceed thresholds after the warning is sent, your account will be suspended for seven days. After the seven day suspension expires, please reach out to your Sales Rep for account reactivation.
Permanent Suspension: If your account continues to exceed thresholds after the seven day suspension expires and your account is reactivated, your account will be permanently suspended.
To ensure emails are delivered correctly, please ensure the email address provided is accurate. You can click here to learn how to update your company details.
Methods to Resolve Flags
If your Creative has been rejected, there are a few options to get the Creative back to an active status:
Submit a false-positive review to the anti-virus company or analytic tool that has made the detection.
Switch out the current link which contains the detection for a new link without any detections.
Utilize OddBytes' Backup URL feature and switch to a new Creative URL that is not flagged.
Flag Removal | False Positive
If you feel that your Creative has a URL which has been wrongly flagged, you will need to contact the AV company directly to have the flag removed.
Each AV company has its own specific site to visit or email address to use to submit a false positive. Please find a few of the potential AV companies which could have flagged your URL below:
VirusTotal is an aggregator, listing out several different AV companies. You will need to reach out to each company that is flagging the URL. You can find a list of their vendor contact information here.
For instructions on how to check for VirusTotal flags, please click here.
There may be a delay between the time when the flag is cleared with the
company and the time the flag is removed from VirusTotal. The Creative will not be approved until VirusTotal shows the URL as 'clean'.
Xcitium Verdict Cloud - [email protected]
SECLOOKUP - [email protected]
*Please note: These sites are subject to change. If any of the URLs are no longer
working, please contact the Support team at [email protected].
Update the Creative URL
Unfortunately, there are instances when a flag cannot be removed. In this case, the best course of action to get your Creative back live is to replace the flagged URL with a clean URL. More info about updating Creative URLs can be found here.
Use a Backup URL
A Backup URL can be added to the Creative so that it can be activated if and when the Creative URL is flagged. This helps to prevent any interruptions in traffic until the Creative URL's flag can be resolved. A Backup URL must also follow all compliance policies. To learn more about the Backup URL option, click here.
Resubmitting Your Creative
Once the flag has been removed, either by having the original URL's flag removed or updating the URL to a clean URL, please resubmit the Creative for review. In order to do this:
Select the rejected Creative(s) within the 'Manage Creatives' tab by checking the box(es) to the left of the Creative name
Change the status to 'Active'
If the flag is no longer present, and it complies with all other compliance policies, the Creative will go back live and traffic will resume.
If the flag is still present, or a new flag is present and/or there are any other compliance violations, the Creative will again be rejected.
To receive email alerts for when a Creative is approved and/or rejected, please enroll in our Alert Subscriptions.
If you have any additional questions or need more support, please reach out to your rep or Support at [email protected].