OSINT and information gathering methods are very important, for that reason this article will show how to locate the DNS and domains of ad service providers.
Here we will show different ways to detect third-party domains and JavaScript files related to the distribution of ads on websites.
DevsTools is a tool that is enabled in all chromium-based browsers such as Google Chrome, Brave, Egde, Opera and among others that by pressing F12 in the browser you can access the DevsTools.
The Network menu is important, searching for an ad provider's domain and refreshing the website with F5 or the reset arrows will load incoming files and metadata on the website.
Brave Browser a browser that focuses on detecting and removing ads and domains related to information sales and fingerprinting.
with the advanced shields section you can detect JavaScript files and domains related to ad services providers
3 websites with activated ads were verified, the Shilds function of brave and the menu detected more than 4 ad providers, by verifying the domains with this article you can locate the original ad company.
The js files of the ad providers are also shown, this can be useful when you analyze a domain and want to know what functions it does and which ad company owns the domain.
Ghostery is an extension that can be installed on most chromium-based browsers (brave browser , chrome , edge , other) and on firefox. Its function is to block ads, but it's important to us because it can be used to collect information from ad providers without installing brave browser or using devstools.
As you can see in the screenshot of the extension, it detected 2 domains that are from 2 different ad providers, the first is from Traffic Stars and the second is from Exoclick.
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Extension: Ghostery Chrome
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Extension 2: Ghostery Firefox
With this extension it will be easier to locate the ad providers, just by adding this to chrome, brave, edge or firefox they can locate the domains of the ad providers and even with this extension in some cases they can locate the name of the advertising company.