Yahoo purchases ad-fraud security company ClarityRay

ClarityRay is Yahoo's eleventh startup purchase this year

It seems as though we live in perilous times when it comes to security on the Internet. Years ago, if you had asked me, I would have thought that we'd finally have a handle on how to protect people from hacking, malware and viruses by now. But nope, we seem to be more susceptible than ever.

Security was certainly the impetus for Yahoo to go and purchase ClarityRay, a company dedicated to identifying, and preventing, ad-fraud. The acquisition has been revealed in a post on ClarityRay's homepage. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed.

The Tel Aviv-based ClarityRay began life by offering ad blocking tools, but it has since moved on to providing security against ad fraud. The company's announcement does not make it entirely clear what will happen to it now. It seems likely that Yahoo would incorporate its technology into its existing properties.

"Our vision has always been making the eco-system safe, compliant and sustainable for consumers, publishers and advertisers. We helped the online advertising industry take a big step towards that direction by identifying, measuring, and solving many of its unseen hurdles inhibiting that. We brought traffic clarity to an amazing roster of clients, with our findings becoming an industry standard," the company wrote.

As a part of Yahoo, the company said, it would be able to use its momentum in order to "take the next steps (or rather, leaps) towards that vision."

"This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity enables the mass scaling of our technology, impact and ideas to the absolute forefront of our field, while working with an amazing team who shares our passion. We're proud to call Yahoo 'home'."

Founded in 2012 by Ido Yablonka, Vadim Zak, and Guy Pitelko, the company raised $500,000 in seed funding in May 2012 from Saar Wilf.

Yahoo's 2014 acquisitions

This is Yahoo's eleventh purchase so far this year. 

It bought Distill, a provider of a video interviewing and scheduling service for recruiters; Aviate, a replacement Android home screen launcher; mobile marketing startup Sparq; virtual gaming company Cloud Party; enterprise app studio Tomfoolery; Incredible Labs, the company behind mobile personal assistant app Donna; Wander, the company behind blogging app Days; high-quality streaming video company RayV; mobile ad exchange Flurry; and recommendation platform Zofari. 

VatorNews has reached out to Yahoo to find out more about what it will do with ClarityRay. We will update if we learn more.

(Image source: yahoo.tumblr.com)