Traffic filtering

Both platform and tracker have a built-in traffic filter. It allows you to run a simple and fast filtering service for affiliates, running on the basis of smart black lists. To start working with filters, you need to pre-configure.

  1. In the "Control - Traffic Filters" section, go to the "Settings" subsection and prepare everything with the recommendations below.
  2. In the "Control - Traffic Filters" section, activate all the black lists for work.
  3. Platform only: in the "Control - Settings - Extended" section, remove the hide section of the traffic "Traffic filters".

Recommended configuration

After installing the platform or tracker, all system blacklists are inactive. You need to activate them and, if necessary, make them available by default.

  1. Go to the "Control - Traffic filters" section to see the available blacklists.
  2. In the blacklist settings, check the "Active" box (or simply click "Hidden" in the "Status" column in the table) to make the selected blacklist available when setting up filtering campaigns. Inactive blacklists are unavailable even when manually configuring the filter list.
  3. In the blacklist settings, check the "Default" box (or simply click "Hidden" in the "Default" column in the table) to always use the selected blacklist for filtering. This list will be used in flows, split tests, and built-in redirect site filters.
  4. Make sure all necessary blacklists are marked "Active" in the "Status" and "Default" columns.

Make sure to set all blacklists named AlterCPA One to active and default. Activate the AlterCPA VPN lists, but only enable them by default if you need VPN blocking. Also activate the smart blacklists described below and mark them "Default."

You can also activate pre-built smart blacklists, which are generated based on AlterCPA One traffic, which processes millions of clicks every day. To use them, you must have a paid subscription to the AlterCPA One service with the "Standard" plan or higher.

  1. Register for AlterCPA One and pay for a "Standard" subscription or higher.
  2. After payment, go to the "Profile" section and copy your API token.
  3. In your tracker or platform, go to "Management - Traffic Filters" and configure all "AlterCPA Smart" blacklists.
  4. In the blacklist settings, enter the API token from step 2 in the field "Access key" and check the boxes "Active", "Default", and "Enable automatic updates".
  5. Remember to renew your AlterCPA One subscription on time.

Using smart blacklists is recommended when working with complex traffic sources. You don't need to purchase ready-made ones. If you have sufficient traffic volumes, your blacklists will be generated automatically using machine learning. Activate it following the instructions below.

Smart blacklists

At the initial stage, we recommend that you include some smart traffic verification mechanisms in filtering settings. First of all, create and make active three blacklist:

  • Smart IPv4, type "IP Addresses", to collect suspicious IP addresses.
  • Smart Net, type "IP Subnet", for merging suspicious IP in subnet.
  • Smart IPv6, type "IPv6-Address", to collect suspicious IPv6 addresses.

Go to the "Settings" subsection and in all drop-down lists, select the blacklists you just created. Specify the following lock settings:

  • Different User-Agent: permissible quantity - 30, blocking for one day.
  • GEO errors: block for one day.
  • Headers filter: block for one day.
  • Domain and path errors: don't block at all.
  • Subnet blocking: 50 coinciding IP addresses, for a day, from the list of Smart IPv4.

These settings may vary depending on your preferences and are no more than starting recommendation.

Format of black lists

You can export and import black lists in CSV format. File encoding - UTF-8, separator - commas, framing values - quotes. Each of the types of black lists works with its format. All lists use the same comments identifiers:

  1. Public list
  2. Suspicious
  3. Corporate
  4. Different User-Agent
  5. GEO error
  6. Header error
  7. Multiple errors
  8. Bad request
  9. Bot

IPv4 addresses

The line of this list contains two fields: IP address and comment identifier.

12.34.56.78,2

IPv4 subnets

The line of this list contains three fields: IP address, subnet capacity and comment identifier.

12.34.56.0,24,3

IPv6 addresses and subters

All IPv6 addresses are added as subnets. It is recommended to use subnet / 64. The address may be indicated both in full and in abbreviated form. The line of this list contains three fields: IPv6 address, subnet capacity and comment ID.

2001:abcd::1,64,5

Headers filter

The line of this list contains three fields: the contents of the header, the header ID and the comment identifier.

"facebook",1,6

The header identifier can take one of the following values:

  • 1 - User-Agent
  • 2 - Accept
  • 3 - Accept-Charset
  • 4 - Accept-Encoding
  • 5 - Accept-Language
  • 6 - Authorization
  • 7 - Cache-Control
  • 8 - Connection
  • 9 - Content-Disposition
  • 10 - Date
  • 11 - Expect
  • 12 - From
  • 13 - Host
  • 14 - If-Match
  • 15 - If-Modified-Since
  • 16 - If-None-Match
  • 17 - If-Range
  • 18 - If-Unmodified-Since
  • 19 - Max-Forwards
  • 20 - Pragma
  • 21 - Proxy-Authorization
  • 22 - Range
  • 23 - Referer
  • 24 - TE
  • 25 - Trailer
  • 26 - Transfer-Encoding
  • 27 - Upgrade
  • 28 - Via
  • 30 - X-Forwarded-For
  • 31 - X-Purpose
  • 32 - X-FB-HTTP-Engine
  • 33 - X-Frame-Options
  • 34 - X-WAP-Profile
  • 35 - X-Real-IP
  • 36 - Client-IP
  • 37 - CF-Connecting-IP
  • 100 - Remote Address
  • 101 - Remote Port
  • 102 - Request Method
  • 103 - Request URI
  • 104 - Request Query String
  • 106 - Request Scheme