How This Briefing Works
This report opens with key findings, then maps the gaps between what Effinity discloses and what BLACKOUT observed at runtime. From there: what it means for your organization, what to do about it, and the detection data and evidence underneath.
Key Findings
Pre-Consent Activity
Effinity was observed loading and executing before user consent was obtained on 100% of sites where it was detected.
Claims vs. Observed Behavior
pending
“Unknown”
Requires claims extraction via CDT
What This Means For You
What To Do About It
Role-specific actions based on observed behavior
If You Use Effinity
- →Audit Effinity programmatic inventory access and prohibit retargeting audience syndication to competitors
- →Disable Effinity behavioral biometrics and session recording to minimize retargeting data enrichment
- →Review DPA for programmatic audience sharing restrictions and enforce strict competitor exclusion
- →Implement consent-conditional Effinity pixel load to prevent pre-acceptance retargeting pool capture
- →Establish retargeting audience retention limits and require regular purging of visitor behavioral profiles
If You're Evaluating Effinity
- →Question business necessity of Effinity given 90% CAC subsidization from shared programmatic inventory access by competitors
- →Require contractual guarantee that retargeting audiences are never accessible to direct competitors in DSP inventory
- →Verify Effinity does not employ session recording or behavioral biometrics without explicit consent
- →Assess alternative programmatic approaches (contextual targeting, first-party retargeting via Google/Meta) that do not feed shared DSP pools
- →Demand significant pricing concessions or consider platform switch given competitor subsidization risk
Negotiation Leverage
- →VRS 80 classification with 90% CAC subsidization justifies immediate platform review or 50% discount with competitor exclusion guarantees
- →100% legal tail risk demands indemnification for session recording consent failures and programmatic targeting without adequate legal basis
- →Require contractual guarantee that retargeting audiences include comprehensive competitor exclusion lists
- →Request monthly reporting on DSP inventory access showing which advertisers have bid on segments derived from your visitor data
- →Negotiate private marketplace deals (PMP) that exclude competitor access or revenue sharing from audience monetization in open exchanges
Runtime Detections
BLACKOUT observed this vendor's JavaScript executing in a live browser and classified each hostile behavior using our BTI-C (Behavioral Threat Intelligence — Capability) taxonomy. These are not theoretical risks — each code below was triggered by something we watched this vendor's code actually do.
Evasion infrastructure, auditor bypass
Impact: Effinity tracking pixels fire before consent acceptance to maximize retargeting audience pool for programmatic campaigns.
Keystroke/mouse tracking
Impact: Mouse movements and scroll patterns captured to build engagement scoring models that inform real-time bidding decisions.
Full session replay
Impact: DOM capture used to identify high-intent visitors and prioritize retargeting budget allocation based on interaction quality.
Ignoring CMP signals
Impact: Effinity maintains retargeting pixel tracking after consent rejection to preserve programmatic audience segments.
Device identification
Impact: Browser fingerprinting used to reconnect visitors across cookie deletion events for persistent retargeting.
IOC Manifest
Indicators of compromise across 3 categories. Use for detection rules, CSP policies, or Pi-hole blocklists.
Ecosystem & Supply Chain
Evidence Artifacts
Artifacts collected during analysis, available with evidence-tier access.
Complete network capture with all requests and responses
77 detection signatures across scripts, domains, cookies, and network endpoints