HUMAN Security, Inc. (formerly White Ops)—a cybersecurity company that protects enterprises from bot attacks to keep digital experiences human—today announced two new founding Human Collective members: Index Exchange and MediaMath. Together they participated in thought-provoking panel discussions during the recent IAB Tech Lab CTV & Video Advertising: Growing with Standards virtual event where they emphasised how important it is to work together in the fight against fraud on emerging formats, including Connected TV (CTV). 

Index Exchange, one of the world’s largest independent ad exchanges, helped kick things off with other CTV thought leaders on the day’s first panel, “Scaling Programmatic CTV with SSAI (Challenges and Solutions).” The panel focused on forging strong business relationships while adopting standards and technologies to ensure secure transactions for customers, core tenets of the Human Collective: 

"As we work to create a secure supply chain for CTV transactions, it's imperative that we collaborate with other industry leaders to evolve new standards and partnerships in the fight against ad fraud," said Index Exchange senior director of product Rob Hazan. "The Human Collective empowers OTT market participants to identify vetted, certified ad tech partners, and creates confidence that CTV transactions are fraud-free and secure.” 

The keynote address, delivered by HUMAN chief scientist Michael McNally, took a deep dive into the ways in which bad actors monetise ad fraud with a specific look into the PARETO CTV botnet takedown, which was led by HUMAN and other Human Collective members. The subsequent panel, “Tackling CTV Fraud + Building a Safe CTV Supply Chain,” featured key CTV thought leaders, including Ellie Windle, vice president of global strategic partnerships and Alliances at HUMAN, and Tiffany Lee, head of publisher development at MediaMath, an acclaimed independent DSP for the world’s leading brands and agencies. 

“MediaMath has been very involved in pushing for a transparent and safe transaction ecosystem that serves everyone—buyers and publishers—across the industry,” said Lee. “We’re very lucky to have this partnership with HUMAN to help us continue to have thorough and engaging conversations that can lead to adopting and solidifying standards for definitions and best practices across the board.” 

“Fraud is a significant issue facing the advertising industry, and the ability to effectively combat fraud across any channel should be table stakes,” continued Justin Adler-Swanberg, director of marketplace quality for MediaMath. “We believe in a fully accountable, transparent and aligned digital media ecosystem to address the challenges facing today’s advertisers—built together with partners like HUMAN that share our values.” 

“HUMAN is born out of the hacker community, which is known for its culture of giving and sharing information—not a natural or typical practice on the business side,” added Windle. “We need to commit to a level of sharing and collaboration—a ‘see something, say something’ approach that will reduce the ability for bad actors to re-enter the ecosystem.” 

In the coming months, HUMAN will continue to announce additional Founding Members of the Human Collective, a group of organisations hand-picked to enhance the foundation provided by the Flagship class. Together, the members will further strengthen the protection around the numerous access points for bot attacks and fraud in the supply chain. More information about the Human Collective is available at www.humansecurity.com/humancollective.