No threats detected
All checks passed. This site appears legitimate — but always stay alert for phishing even on trusted domains.
Is zks1-ib.adnxs.com legit or a scam?
Legitimate AppNexus ad infrastructure subdomain used for real-time bidding across millions of sites.
Analysis Summary
Website Preview
Automated page render — captured in a safe sandbox. What an ordinary visitor would see when loading the site. See full visual analysis →
Visual analysis
We capture a fresh screenshot of the live page and ask a vision model to look for scam visual patterns — fake trust badges, countdown timers, overlay pop-ups, and visual clones of legitimate brands.
Visual similarities noted — cleared by the overall checks
Our vision model noted some visual similarity to a known brand, but the domain, security records, and reputation checks confirm this is the legitimate site — so this is shown for transparency, not as a red flag.
What our vision model saw
1 signalScreenshot incomplete — site may be slow to render
Intelligence
The domain adnxs.com was registered in 2008 and belongs to AppNexus, now owned by Microsoft under the Xandr brand. Our antivirus network returned zero detections and the hosting IP shows no abuse history. The subdomain follows standard naming patterns for AppNexus regional ad clusters. Evidence shows the platform is sometimes abused by malware for click fraud, which explains the 45 complaints and 3 scam-related mentions. Business registration confirms active ownership in the USA. The combination of long domain history, clean technical signals, and known legitimate business use outweighs the secondary abuse reports.
Web Research Findings
Our live research agent queries scam-report databases, consumer-review sites, news coverage, and general web search for zks1-ib.adnxs.com, then cross-checks business-registration records and look-alike domain patterns. Everything below is pulled from what it actually found.
- The domain adnxs.com is the primary ad-serving infrastructure for AppNexus, a major advertising technology company owned by Microsoft (Xandr).
- Subdomains like ib.adnxs.com (Impression Bus) are used for real-time bidding and ad delivery across millions of websites.
- While the domain itself is a legitimate business tool, it is frequently associated with 'adware' or 'PUPs' because malicious software often forces redirects to this domain to generate fraudulent ad revenue.
- Security researchers have historically noted that malware families sometimes leverage this platform for click fraud or to serve intrusive advertisements.
- Users often find 'adnxs.com' cookies in their browsers after visiting mainstream websites that use programmatic advertising.
- The specific subdomain zks1-ib.adnxs.com follows the standard naming convention for AppNexus regional ad-serving clusters.
- Ciscoopen
"We are aware of 511 malware samples tied to cdn.adnxs.com and 7232 malware samples tied to ib.adnxs.com... malware may be leveraging the App Nexus platform for click fraud purposes."
- Microsoft Communityopen
"I have got an intermittent problem with ads from adnxs.com popping up every so often... I have Malwarbytes and Microsoft Security Essentials but running them doesn't detect anything untoward."
- EnigmaSoftopen
"Adnxs.com is an advertising service site that may be associated with potentially unwanted programs, adware, and browser hijackers used by website publishers to generate revenue."
- The Guardianopen
"Adnxs.com is run by AppNexus, a company that provides technology, data and analytics to help companies buy and sell online display advertising."
Owned by AppNexus (Xandr), which was acquired by Microsoft.
Cisco Talos reports 5,232 malware samples associated with ib.adnxs.com and 511 with cdn.adnxs.com, linking the platform to click-fraud operations. Microsoft Community users describe intermittent pop-up ads from the domain that evade basic antivirus detection. EnigmaSoft flags adnxs.com as an advertising service sometimes bundled with potentially unwanted programs. The Guardian article from 2012 confirms AppNexus operates the domain to facilitate online display advertising. Business records show the company is active in the USA and was acquired by Microsoft.
Domain Timeline
- May 27, 2008Domain registered
First appeared in WHOIS records — 18 years old today.
- Jul 10, 2026Latest security review — Reviewed as safe
This scan re-ran every check and found no active threat signals.
zks1-ib.adnxs.com has operated for years with no threat signals in this review — a long, stable track record, though it is never a guarantee on its own.
Threat Detection
Antivirus Engines
Security Scans
Checked against the major public blocklists used by browsers and security tools — no hits.
Reputation Sources
How this domain rates across independent threat-intelligence and blocklist providers.
Technical Details
domain · encryption · redirects · server reputation · referencedDomain & Encryption
Server Reputation
What to do
Still, stay alert
No major threat indicators — but a clean scan does not guarantee every page is safe, and phishing emails routinely spoof real domains.
- Double-check the exact URL in your address bar
Confirm you are actually on zks1-ib.adnxs.com and not a lookalike like z-ks1-ib.adnxs.com.com or an IDN homoglyph.
- Use a password manager
Password managers only auto-fill on the exact domain they were saved for — they refuse to fill lookalike domains, which is the single best phishing defence.
- OpenDiscuss this site on the forum
If you have first-hand experience with this site — good or bad — share it with the MalwareTips community.
Final Verdict
This is an ad-serving subdomain operated by AppNexus/Xandr, a Microsoft-owned advertising platform. The domain itself is 18 years old with clean security scans, though malware sometimes routes traffic here to generate fraudulent clicks.
Safety FAQ
Common questions, answered directly from the scan data above — so the answers always reflect the latest verdict on this page.
- Our automated security review found no threat indicators on zks1-ib.adnxs.com, so it appears legitimate. All 92 antivirus engines we queried report it clean, and the domain is 18.1 years old, registered on May 27, 2008 — established domains are far less likely to be scams. Even so, always double-check the exact address in your browser, because phishing emails routinely spoof real, trusted domains like this one.
- zks1-ib.adnxs.com passed our automated checks with a trust score of 82/100. No antivirus engines or major blacklists flagged it at the time of the last scan, and its signals line up with an established, legitimate site. Treat any unexpected login prompt or payment request on it with the same caution you would anywhere.
- Yes — and this is worth understanding. Even trustworthy domains get spoofed in phishing emails (a fake message that only looks like it's from zks1-ib.adnxs.com), and legitimate sites are occasionally compromised on specific pages. A clean verdict means the site itself checks out today; it does not mean every email or link claiming to be from zks1-ib.adnxs.com is genuine. Always reach the site by typing the address yourself rather than clicking links in unexpected messages.
- No — all 92 antivirus and blocklist engines in our malware network currently report zks1-ib.adnxs.com as clean. That's a good sign, though antivirus coverage is only one of the many signals we weigh, and brand-new scam sites can appear clean before vendors catch up.
- No — zks1-ib.adnxs.com is not currently on the major browser blocklist feeds that Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge rely on. Note that blocklists can lag behind brand-new scam domains, so "not listed" is reassuring but not a guarantee on its own.
- zks1-ib.adnxs.com is 18.1 years old, registered on May 27, 2008 through MarkMonitor Inc.. A multi-year registration history is one of the stronger signals against a scam, though it's never a guarantee on its own — established domains can still be misused.
- Yes — zks1-ib.adnxs.com presents a valid TLSv1.2 certificate issued by DigiCert Inc · GeoTrust TLS ECC CA G1, valid for another 108 days. Important caveat: SSL only encrypts the connection between you and the site — it does not verify who runs it. Almost all scam sites now have valid SSL too, so a padlock alone never means "safe".
- zks1-ib.adnxs.com resolves to an IP operated by Microsoft Corporation in KR (Content Delivery Network). Hosting location alone doesn't make a site good or bad — but hosting that doesn't match a brand's claimed country, or that sits on networks known for abuse, is one of the many signals we weigh alongside the verdict above.
- This report is a record of the scan run on July 10, 2026, and the verdict reflects that point in time. Scam sites change fast — they can go live, get flagged, or vanish within days — so if you believe something about zks1-ib.adnxs.com has changed, MalwareTips staff can run a fresh scan that re-checks every signal from scratch and republishes an updated verdict.
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