Mediaocean to acquire Flashtalking, adding complementary solutions to power $200 billion in annualized media spend
MediaOcean’s Marketing Team New York Combined companies will establish the most trusted, independent technology platform for omnichannel advertising with emphasis on cross-channel video and dynamic creative. Mediaocean, the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising, and Flashtalking, the leading independent ad management platform, announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement in which Mediaocean will acquire Flashtalking. The combined entity will infuse Flashtalking’s best-in-class solutions for primary ad serving, creative personalization, identity management, and verification with Mediaocean’s modern system of record used by the world’s leading brands and agencies. The announcement comes at a critical inflection point for the advertising industry as marketers seek trusted, independent solutions to manage the rise of big tech. Mediaocean and Flashtalking customers will benefit from comprehensive and future-forward solutions for global strategic planning, omnichannel media management, closed ecosystems optimization, and financial reconciliation across traditional media, open web, closed ecosystems, and connected TV. “Bringing together Mediaocean and Flashtalking is an incredible opportunity for our customers, employees, and the industry at large,” said Bill Wise, CEO of Mediaocean. “Flashtalking is the source of truth for digital and CTV ads and Mediaocean is the system of record for all media. Combined, we will deliver comprehensive and future-forward solutions for omnichannel advertising. Most importantly, our platform is not compromised by media ownership so we can focus solely on driving outcomes for marketers and their agency partners.” “Our mission of enabling marketers to move consumers to action is a perfect fit for Mediaocean’s vision of a world where marketers market the way consumers consume,” said John Nardone, CEO at Flashtalking. “Over the years, we’ve built the most trusted, independent platform for driving advertising relevance and improving campaign performance. Together, our teams and complementary tech will help brands succeed in a future dominated by converged media and anchored on cookieless identity resolution.” “As we continue to innovate, it’s crucial to have technology that enables us to meet the moment for consumers,” said Deborah Wahl, CMO of General Motors. “It’s encouraging to see companies like Mediaocean and Flashtalking come together to deliver on the omnichannel advertising imperative. The industry needs a neutral and independent player in the ecosystem to enable media convergence.” “The combination of Mediaocean and Flashtalking signals a critical milestone as the industry moves towards open and interoperable solutions,” said Paul Gelb, Head of Digital Activation and Investment at Bayer. “One of the biggest opportunities in modern media is connecting technology across planning, buying, ad serving, and creative optimization. With Flashtalking, Mediaocean has improved its potential value proposition for omnichannel advertising.” The acquisition of Flashtalking by Mediaocean builds on a partnership the companies launched in 2018 to incorporate ad serving data into media buyer workflow. The combined entity will represent an advertising technology platform with over $200 billion in annualized media spend and over 1 trillion monthly ad impressions. Earlier this year, Mediaocean announced its new product paradigm that unifies solutions across media intelligence, management, and finance. The company’s product transformation and emphasis on culture have been recognized with Customer’s Choice designation from Gartner Peer Insights1 and Best Places to Work by Ad Age. The global advertising industry is a $700 billion market2 undergoing major transformation due to changing consumer habits and privacy expectations. This has led to the rise of CTV and closed ecosystems in which Mediaocean made a large investment via the acquisition of 4C in July 2020 and, now with Flashtalking, will enhance its best-in-class solutions. The combined companies will enable a number of innovative value propositions for advertisers and agencies: Unified planning and measurement of traditional and digital media including cross-channel video In-flight campaign optimization through AI-driven recommendations and automation Data-driven creative personalization across open web and closed ecosystems Flexible identity resolution to enable omnichannel reach in a cookie-less world as well as privacy compliance with CCPA and GDPR Advanced brand insights and analytics for media impact on sales conversions The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as exclusive financial advisor to Flashtalking and Travers Smith LLP and Goodwin Procter LLP as its legal counsel. About Mediaocean Mediaocean is the mission-critical platform for omnichannel advertising. With more than $200 billion in annualized media spend managed through its software, Mediaocean connects brands, agencies, media, technology, and data. Using AI and machine learning technology to control marketing investments and optimize business outcomes, Mediaocean powers campaigns from planning, buying, and selling to analysis, invoices, and payments. Mediaocean employs 1,200 people across 20 global offices and is part of the Vista Equity Partners portfolio. Visit www.mediaocean.com for more information. About Flashtalking Flashtalking is the leading global independent primary ad server and analytics technology company. The company uses data to personalize advertising in real-time, independently analyze its effectiveness and enable optimization that drives better engagement and return on spend for sophisticated global brands. Flashtalking’s platform leads the market with innovative products and services to ensure creative relevance and actionable insights across channels and formats, powered by unique cookieless tracking, data orchestration and advanced analytics. Flashtalking supports clients at the crossroads where data, personalized creative and unbiased measurement intersect with expertise, service and a deep partner ecosystem to drive successful digital marketing. The company is part of the TA Associates portfolio. Media Contact Aaron GoldmanCMO, MediaoceanPress@mediaocean.com 1 Gartner Peer Insights Customers’ Choice constitute the subjective opinions of individual end-user reviews, ratings, and data applied against a documented methodology; they neither represent the views of, nor constitute an endorsement by, Gartner or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 2 Source: eMarketer Worldwide
Flashtalking Acquires Protected Media To Bolster OTT Fraud Detection Services
Independent global ad server Flashtalking said on Tuesday that it has acquired Israeli-based ad fraud detection specialist Protected Media as it makes a bigger push into the OTT space. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition was made with a mix of cash and stock. The deal allows Flashtalking to offer verification, fraud detection and viewability services globally across desktop, mobile web, in-app and CTV/OTT. Protected Media, which has offices in Tel Aviv and New York, received Media Rating Council accreditation for fraud detection in OTT last year, enabling advertisers that purchase OTT inventory to implement verification safeguards. The acquisition also positions Flashtalking as the only independent ad server with MRC accreditation for fraud detection in OTT. “CTV is such a hot space right now and has a lot of unique challenges that Protected Media’s technology can really address,” Flashtalking CEO John Nardone told AdExchanger. “We’re really excited to bring integrated data through the verification service into our integrated data products, a simplified workflow and now really deepening our capabilities in CTV.” Protected Media’s 17 employees will join Flashtalking, and the company is also hiring seven new verification specialists. The integration process will take place over the next six months. The acquisition marks Flashtalking’s fourth M&A deal over the past several years, which included dynamic creative optimization company Spongecell and attribution analytics provider Encore Media Metrics. “Before you buy the media you’ve got to have the creative, and after you have to measure it,” Nardone said. Until now, though, Flashtalking did not help evaluate inventory quality, and the ad server’s clients found it cumbersome to integrate various verification partners. Talks with Protected Media began in 2019, but Nardone said the acquisition took on added significance last year with the shift to streaming during the COVID-19 pandemic. “This reinforces for the industry that Flashtalking is playing big in the OTT space and is investing and bringing unique capabilities to the table that other folks don’t have, and it’s part of a long-term strategy to win in that space,” he said. The OTT boom has created more opportunities for fraudsters, particularly large-scale “spoofing” attacks, in which scammers use server-side ad insertion to generate fake CTV inventory across a large number of apps, IPs and devices, which can cost advertisers and publishers millions in ad spend. “We’ve seen good publishers get completely thrown off platforms, get blacklisted for things which have nothing to do with them,” said Asaf Greiner, CEO and founder of Protected. He added that Protected Media is working with publishers to help clear their names with groups that have accused them of fraudulent activities. Protected Media will also help Flashtalking to accelerate the set-up and management of verification processes, since it’s an automated tool and doesn’t rely on error-prone shared spreadsheets. Flashtalking had already been investing in its OTT and CTV partnerships and platform integrations with other verification partners, including DoubleVerify and Oracle Moat, and Nardone said Flashtalking will continue working with them. “Flashtalking can ensure that clients will never have to doubt the quality of their impressions, especially expensive, high-value OTT/CTV impressions,” he said. Last year, Protected Media uncovered an ad fraud scheme dubbed Hydra that stole millions from advertisers by impersonating app traffic. The company worked with Google and the Trustworthy Accountability Group to shut the scam down.But it’s an ongoing process. “At the end of the day, the takedowns of most of the attacks are not very useful, because you take down the attack but you don’t take down the attackers – their organization is still there,” Greiner said. “If you remove one of their methods, they’ll return with a new one. What is important for us is not the specific takedown – it’s providing the industry and the advertisers with tools to cooperate with one another and deal with the attacks as they materialize.” Originally published by AdExchanger.
Sayollo and Protected Media Partner to Protect Immersive Mobile Game Advertising From Sophisticated Fraud
December 30, 2020.By PRNewswire. advertising pioneer Sayollo and anti-fraud innovator Protected Media are announcing a first of its kind collaboration to turn immersive in-game advertising into a fraud-free space. By implementing Protected Media’s advanced authentication and verification technology, Sayollo delivers yet again on its promise of greater ROAS on the platform and provides its clients with the transparency and trust required to profitably scale their media spend. Protected Media’s patented 3-Way-Handshake cybersecurity technology uniquely verifies and digitally signs each ad impression, making it tamper-proof and preventing spoofing and impersonation at its root. Sayollo’s technology offers advertisers access to one of the ecosystem’s fastest growing segments: immersive in-gaming ads. Sayollo matches any brand to its perfect demographic by showing relevant, immersive and non-disruptive messages inside games players already play, offering advertisers a direct channel to the world’s 2.6B mobile gamers. With Sayollo advertisers strategically place video ads in premium virtual locations, where, based on the company’s patented Emotional Targeting technology, ads are shown when players experience positive emotions. In the face of the growing scope and sophistication of digital ad fraud, Sayollo has chosen to partner with Protected Media in order to maintain its promise of increased ROAS by keeping the in-game advertising ecosystem safe from bots, click-farms, and fraudulent transactions. Protected Media’s innovative cybersecurity ad fraud solution employs impression-level, tamper-proof cryptography for user & device authentication, data verification, and “bad” source take-down. The solution’s patented 3-Way-Handshake guarantees the validity and quality of any given transaction across the supply chain by enabling anyone to easily verify and authenticate their transactions. In addition, the solution offers stronger, more proactive protection because it caters to both supply and demand, creating an internal feedback loop of cross-supply chain knowledge sharing and collaboration to effectively fight fraud. As opposed to traditional Machine Learning based solutions, cybersecurity is the most innovative technological approach able to guarantee authenticated and verified user engagement across the advertising supply chain. “Providing an ingenious advertising platform is only half the battle. Making sure that fraudsters don’t steal its benefits from under advertisers’ feet is the other,” said Or Oren, Sayollo’s Head of Operation Specialist. “Since fraud prevention has always been a core value of our technology, partnering with Protected Media to solve ad fraud at the source was the natural move for us.” Asaf Greiner, CEO of Protected Media, said: “Frontiers of untapped potential for advertisers are always a breeding ground for fraudsters. We applaud Sayollo’s proactive stance against fraudulent activities which directly harm advertisers’ bottom line and erodes the trust between advertisers and publishers. Even in new ecosystems, Protected Media ensures that fraudsters aren’t able to get through the cracks usually left by fragmented protection.” Jonathan Attias, CEO of Sayollo, said: “We use untapped virtual real estate in mobile games to connect advertisers to gamers. In the last year, we’ve seen a massive increase in gamers and at the same time, the brands finally discovered this world. We’ve found the right formula to combine them both.” To the full piece on MarTechSeries…
Digital Remedy Partners with Protected Media; Takes CTV Ad Fraud Prevention to the Next Level
“By partnering with the MRC-accredited Protected Media, we are able to help Digital Remedy clients eliminate fraudulent traffic. ProtectedTV is a game changer for ad fraud detection in the OTT/CTV space. It brings clarity and trust to digital advertisers. The value then becomes our ability to deliver campaign performance across measurable metrics, most notably overall campaign ROI.” David Zapletal | Chief Innovation & Media Officer, Digital Remedy|“We’re here to solve the OTT fraud problem before it gets out of hand. We appreciate the fact that ad professionals want to do their jobs, and aren’t interested in pursuing fraudsters down cyber rabbit holes. Our mission is to keep OTT a clean advertising environment by building trust and baking verification into the system. By harnessing ProtectedTV, Digital Remedy doesn’t just measure fraud—it fights fraud efficiently.” Asaf Greiner | Protected Media CEO Cybersecurity Methodologies Increase Value for Flip Users Flip, a leading OTT/CTV advertising platform by Digital Remedy, provides full funnel attribution tracking and real-time campaign optimization across all major OTT platforms. Digital Remedy has created a scalable, efficient OTT buying marketplace for advertisers with the Flip solution—and now it’s protecting clients from fraudulent traffic with the next level of ad fraud identification and prevention technology. Digital Remedy prioritizes quality over quantity as a long-term strategy for the creation of real, sustainable yield for its network of clients, including advertisers and agencies. In order to keep the funnel clean and achieve value over fake clicks, Digital Remedy partnered with Protected Media and implemented its ProtectedTV cybersecurity solution for all Flip users. Digital Remedy is upping the ante against fraudsters to ensure clients access only to premium, brand-safe inventory. Digital Remedy clients can rest assured that their ads are served to validated, authenticated audiences, so that engagement actually occurs. ProtectedTV is built from the ground up, on an innovative cybersecurity approach that enables both demand and supply players to work in environments they trust, with the peace of mind of authenticated and verified user engagement. The cutting-edge ProtectedTV solution is based on an advanced technological stack, cryptography, and network & computing core analysis. ProtectedTV’s independent supply-side verification & authentication technology utilizes internal data to effectively (1) block malicious attacks directed at the platform; and (2) prevent misleading sale of “CTV inventory” on the open market that leads to loss of revenue and reputation dilution. By utilizing Protected Media anti-fraud technology, the Flip platform offers a layer of protection to ad campaigns—detecting and eliminating fraudsters—to make sure clients are only paying for real, genuine audiences and conversions, and that audiences are engaging only with validated, authenticated traffic. This innovative partnership is the latest example of the ongoing commitment of Digital Remedy to its clients and the company’s bid to create more clarity, transparency, and trust in the OTT/CTV space. About Digital Remedy Digital Remedy is a leader in data powered technology and services for marketers with a simple belief: create solutions that solve problems. Digital Remedy delivers advertisers, publishers, and agencies the innovation, technology, and customer service they need to make the most of their digital advertising endeavors. From audience extension and targeting strategies, to campaign optimization and inventory monetization, Digital Remedy provides cross-channel efficiencies to solve any marketing challenge. About Protected Media Protected Media is a global leader in ad fraud prevention and detection. ProtectedTV, Protected Media’s patent pending CTV solution, offers a unique three-way authentication and verification technology that guarantees the validity and quality of any given transaction across the CTV supply chain. Founded in 2014 by veterans of Israel’s cybersecurity industry, Protected Media uses cyber methodologies and the most advanced technological stack to protect its over 100 global customers from sophisticated ad fraud and current and emerging threats. HQ in Tel Aviv and an office in New York. Download Protected Media & Digital Remedy’s CTV Ad Fraud White Paper
Protected Media Launches ProtectedTV: A Technology Suite for End-to-end OTT Ad Fraud Protection
Yesterday, Protected Media was accredited for OTT by the Media Rating Council; today, the global provider of advanced cybersecurity ad fraud solutions announces the launch of ProtectedTV, a new technology suite designed and built to curb ad fraud across the connected TV (OTT/CTV) digital advertising ecosystem. ProtectedTV is built from the ground up on an innovative cybersecurity approach that enables both demand and supply players to work in environments they trust, with the peace of mind of authenticated and verified user engagement. The cutting-edge solution is based on an advanced technological stack, cryptography, and network & computing core analysis. Unique capabilities include: User & device authentication. Impression-level, tamper-proof cryptography that guarantees a trusted transaction. Each ad impression is uniquely verified and digitally signed using a patented three-way authentication, making it tamper-proof and preventing spoofing/impersonation at its root. Anyone along the media buying chain automatically verifies the source via PM’s trusted servers. Data verification. Detection of the most sophisticated attacks, including novel CTV attack vectors, that creates transparency & confidence. The advertising platform’s control of the data allows for continuous supervision and control over how it is perceived and measured by the market. Proactive “bad” source take-down. Off-platform value safeguarding that leads to reputation and revenue protection. ProtectedTV’s independent supply-side verification & authentication technology is integrated into the platform and utilizes internal data to effectively (1) block malicious attacks directed at the platform; and (2) prevent misleading sale of “CTV inventory” on the open market that leads to loss of revenue and reputation dilution. This technology is based on device interrogation that creates a deep understanding of specific platforms & behaviour patterns. Cybersecurity methods are used to actively collect multiple signals from every transaction, providing deep insights relative to the validity and quality of any given transaction. Asaf Greiner, CEO at Protected Media, said: “We’re here to solve the OTT fraud problem before it gets out of hand. We appreciate the fact that ad professionals want to do their jobs, and aren’t interested in pursuing fraudsters down cyber rabbit holes. Our mission is to keep OTT a clean advertising environment by building trust and baking verification into the system. Protected Media doesn’t just measure fraud – it solves fraud.” Protected Media hase recently earned MRC’s OTT/CTV accreditation for video Served Impressions within the OTT environment, inclusive of SIVT filtration. John Nardone, CEO at Flashtalking, a global ad server working with Protected Media, said: “We are thrilled to see PM add OTT/CTV accreditations to their other MRC credentials. As OTT/CTV is becoming a bigger and bigger part of our business, our joint clients can get even more value from our tag integration partnership with PM.” Protected Media currently serves multiple OTT/CTV solution providers, scanning over 100 billion ad opportunities a month. David Zapletal, Chief Innovation & Media Officer at Digital Remedy, a U.S.-based, enterprise technology media solution working with Protected Media, said: “ProtectedTV is a game changer for ad fraud detection in the OTT/CTV space. It brings clarity and trust to digital advertisers. By partnering with the MRC-accredited Protected Media, we are able to help Digital Remedy clients eliminate fraudulent traffic. The value then becomes our ability to deliver campaign performance across measurable metrics, most notably overall campaign ROI.” OTT Fraud is Growing in Scope and Sophistication OTT/CTV adoption is on the rise – by consumers, advertisers and fraudsters alike. The new marketplace is growing rapidly and projected to reach 50% of all US households by 2024. As is typical for a young market, the OTT/CTV space is still only lightly regulated. The blackbox logic of many of its components make it uniquely murky and obscure. It is the perfect breeding ground for fraudulent activities, which are in fact quickly growing in scope and sophistication. CTV ad fraud impacts trust and value for all stakeholders. The damage is both direct, when ad platforms and channels lose money and reputation, and indirect – when advertisers’ perception of the platforms’ value drops as a result of poor performance, while platforms lack the ability to defend their advertisers and inventory. As distrust permeates the environment, value quickly deteriorates and revenues decrease. While there are many ad fraud solutions in the market, most have been designed and honed for the web market. These solutions typically employ Machine Learning techniques for big data analysis in order to measure the volume of fraudulent traffic and root out adverse sources. While effective to some extent in the web scenario, these technologies don’t translate well to the OTT/CTV space. Not enough data to go on, and not enough experience to build coherent models, create a gap for ad fraud in Connected TVs that existing solutions just can’t bridge. About Protected Media Protected Media is a global innovator in ad fraud prevention and detection. ProtectedTV, Protected Media’s patent pending CTV solution, offers a unique three-way authentication and verification technology that guarantees the validity and quality of any given transaction across the CTV supply chain. Founded in 2014 by veterans of Israel’s cybersecurity industry, Protected Media uses cyber methodologies and the most advanced technological stack to protect its over 100 global customers from sophisticated ad fraud and current and emerging threats. HQ in Tel Aviv and an office in New York.
Protected Media Accredited for OTT Video Served Impressions by Media Rating Council, Inclusive of SIVT
Also granted continued accreditation for display and video Served Impressions including SIVT for Desktop, Mobile Web and Mobile In-App Protected Media, global provider of advanced cybersecurity ad fraud solutions, today announced that it has earned the Media Rating Council (MRC) accreditation for video Served Impressions in OTT (over-the-top TV), inclusive of both General Invalid Traffic (GIVT) and Sophisticated Invalid Traffic (SIVT), in non-SDK measurements. Protected Media also maintains its existing scope of MRC accreditation for display and video Served Impressions within the Desktop, Mobile Web and Mobile In-App environments, including for Sophisticated Invalid Traffic. With the rise in adoption of connected TV, OTT/CTV ad fraud has been growing rapidly in scope and sophistication across the advertising supply chain. CTV fraudulent activities adversely impact value and trust for both advertisers and publishers. The Media Rating Council’s accreditation speaks to the validity and robustness of Protected Media’s new paradigm of invalid traffic detection for OTT. Protected Media’s OTT solution is based on cybersecurity methodologies to provide sophisticated detection and protection for all stakeholders in the digital advertising supply chain. “Protected Media’s MRC accreditation for SIVT in OTT environments is a noteworthy accomplishment,” said George W. Ivie, Executive Director and CEO of the MRC. “As more and more advertisers’ investments move to OTT and CTV platforms, it’s essential they are able to do so with confidence, and with this accreditation, Protected Media has demonstrated itself as a service that can be counted upon to provide this.” Protected Media’s CEO Asaf Greiner said, “we are committed to enable advertisers on both the demand and the supply side to work in environments they trust, with the peace of mind of authenticated and verified user engagement. MRC’s recent accreditation for Protected Media is an important milestone for IVT detection and prevention in the fastly growing OTT ecosystem.” About Protected Media Protected Media is a global leader in ad fraud prevention and detection, accredited by MRC for SIVT detection and filtration on OTT as well as Desktop, Mobile Web and Mobile Apps. ProtectedTV, Protected Media’s patent pending CTV solution, offers a unique three-way authentication and verification technology that guarantees the validity and quality of any given transaction across the CTV supply chain. Founded in 2014 by veterans of Israel’s cybersecurity industry, Protected Media’s product suite uses cyber methodologies and the most advanced technological stack to protect its customers from sophisticated ad fraud and current and emerging threats. With offices in Tel Aviv and New York, the company serves over 100 global customers across the supply chain, including SSPs, DSPs, networks exchanges, publishers and advertisers. Protected Media provides the most advanced ad fraud protection in the market, giving its customers the peace of mind they need to do their job.For more information visit www.protected.media or contact info@protected.media. About The Media Rating Council The Media Rating Council is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 comprised of leading television, radio, print and digital media companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research as well as other applicable industry measurement guidelines; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently, approximately 110 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.
Inside Google and others’ struggle to stop an advertising-fraud scheme that’s skimming $130 million from the industry
Lucia MosesBusiness Insider Protected Media has recently launched an industry-wide takedown operation of Hydra, an advanced, proactive, large-scale ad fraud operation. We’ve joined forces with Google, TAG, other security companies, and major advertisers to provide industry players with dedicated data enabling them to identify Hydra’s fraud and cut it off. The Slay Hydra Operation is a testament to the prowess of Protected Media’s cybersecurity approach for ad fraud detection, even in the face of the most technologically and conceptually advanced fraud schemes. The reactions to our coordinated cross-industry response have been overwhelmingly positive. As stated by a Google spokesperson: “We commend Protected Media for sharing information on the Hydra ad fraud scheme and collaborating with the broader industry, which is key to minimizing impact.” Read about the Slay Hydra Operation on @Business Insider
Hackers Using 20-Year-Old Tech To Steal $$$ Via Your Phone Bill
John KoetsierConsumer TechJohn Koetsier is a journalist, analyst, author, and speaker. Would you notice if there was an extra $5 or $10 on your monthly mobile phone bill? If you’re like me, you might not notice for months or even years. But that’s exactly how hackers are scamming consumers today, using 20-year-old technology most techies have even forgotten ever existed. And you’d never know you’d been scammed, because it doesn’t require a single click, tap, or authentication.All you have to do is view an ad on your phone. Hackers can add small amounts to your phone bill that you may not notice, making a small amount every month from a large number of people. PHOTO BY TRAVIS ESSINGER ON UNSPLASH Before apps and app stores, before Facebook on mobile or YouTube on your phone, there was WAP: wireless application protocol. Developed in 1999 to web-enable dumbphones of the day, WAP was a low-bandwidth way to get news, stock quotes, and other tidbits of information. (This was the “baby web” that Steve Jobs mocked when he introduced the iPhone, which had a full relatively modern web browser, in 2007.)Like terrestrial radio and dead-tree newspapers, however, old tech rarely dies. Rather, it slowly fades out of sight and out of awareness, only popping up in our semi-stunned awareness when, for example, stimulus checks need to be delivered for tens of millions of people and aging mainframes running 50-year-old operating systems can’t handle the load. Unbeknownst to most, WAP has, like COBOL, never completely died. And to the credit (or debit) of mobile programmers of the early 2000s, WAP included protocols for billing. Let’s pick debit, because one of the billing mechanisms was to charge items directly to your phone bill.Which of course is perfect for hackers, because you won’t see that for a month.Or, perhaps for most of us, ever. GETTY IMAGES At least until we find out that our regular $200 bill is now magically $700 and we have a heart attack. The threat, dubbed wapSiphone, was recently discovered by ad security company Confiant and ad fraud fighting company Protected Media. And it exists for four reasons: image ads can carry a payload of Javascript code which can execute silently on your phone; WAP provides a billing mechanism via your unique MSISDN, or Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number, that does not require registration, username, or password; some mobile carriers are happy to hand out your MSISDN to anyone who asks via HTTP, or hypertext transport protocol (the language linking on the web); and, of course, hackers want your cold hard cash.Also, I suppose, because old code never dies.It just gets hacked by the bad guys of tomorrow. “The WAP billing workflow requires the provider to harvest the user’s MSISDN, which is typically available through a lookup service via the mobile carrier,” security researcher Eliya Stein says. “This is then reconciled on the backend and then the charges appear directly on the consumer’s phone bill. Historically, this flow required the consumer to load the provider’s site over WAP, but wapSiphone is able to exploit the fact that multiple carriers will make the MSISDN available over HTTP, either through headers or a lookup service. This enables the malvertiser to dispatch these lookup requests to the mobile carriers from within display ads in order to collect the victims’ MSISDN.” Stein says that the ad networks in use by the hackers behind wapSiphone include RTBTradeIn and DecenterAds. From there, the ads get syndicated across the complicated mobile advertising ecosystem.Currently, this scam is only targeting carriers such as Global Telecom Holding S.A.E. (formerly Orascom Telecom), which is based in Amsterdam, GB Mobile in Mexico, and an unknown mobile carrier in Iran. That small target footprint may not, however, last long. I asked Stein, a senior security researcher at Confiant, for more information. Koetsier: How much would scammers make?Stein: We don’t have hard data on this, but most will probably try to go for a maximum of several dollars per victim so as to try and fly under the radar. Koetsier: have you seen any growth of this beyond the regions you mentionStein: It’s less common in the US and Europe, probably due to increased privacy enforcement like GDPR. We have heard of similar attacks in the EU, but this specific attacker seems to limit their activity to Iran, UAE, and Mexico at the moment. Koetsier: Would it work in North America and Europe as well?Stein: Whether it would work in Europe or not is carrier specific. There are probably some vulnerable carriers, but less than in other parts of the world. Koetsier: does it impact iOS and Android equally?Stein: It really depends on what devices these carriers are compatible with, but certainly it would work on both if they are both supported. Koetsier: Can it happen via in-app ads and/or mobile web ads?Stein: These campaigns ARE mostly targeting in-app, but [they are] equally possible on mobile web. Koetsier: Thank you for your time! Read the full piece on Forbes
Fraudsters Get Ready To Spoil Streaming Industry’s Party
Streaming services are the new kings of online entertainment, but fraudsters are stealing from the advertising jewels in their crown. Asaf Greiner from Protected Media discusses why the streaming industry is under threat. When a party’s in full swing and everybody’s having fun, who wants to point out that the punch has been spiked and some of the guests are stealing your possessions? This Is Where the Streaming Industry Is at Right Now. With Netflix leading the charge, and the likes of Amazon, Hulu and Roku not far behind, the industry has reached that giddy stage where the business model has finally taken off. As Netflix proclaimed in its recent earnings report, “Just like the evolution from broadcast TV to cable, these once-in-a-generation changes are very large and open up big, new opportunities for many players.” As young consumers, in particular, turn away from traditional TV channels and viewing habits change, streaming services are the new kings of online entertainment. It’s no surprise then that advertisers are keen to reach the audience demographic that streaming attracts, and many channels need their ad spend in order to keep expanding. The problem is that there are unwelcome guests at the streaming industry’s party: online fraudsters. These criminals have already turned web advertising into a minefield of click bots and pseudo sites, and now they’re siphoning off ad budget from streaming services too. Why Is Streaming Vulnerable to the Fraudsters? For a start, something that might seem obvious, but that many people overlook, is that streaming video – often referred to as OTT (Over-The-Top) services – is just another form of online traffic delivered via an internet connection. As such, it can be attacked, hijacked and imitated in exactly the same way as video ads on websites often are. Not only that, but streaming is extra-attractive to fraudsters for two major reasons: number one, ads on streaming platforms are sold at a premium rate compared to web ads, so there’s more budget up for grabs; and number two, advertisers have very limited methods of measuring or verifying where or how their ads have been delivered. It’s another case of technology solving a problem, then creating a new one. For example, rather than having to load ads onto the viewer’s streaming device before being displayed, platforms are increasingly ‘stitching’ ads into the core stream itself, particularly for live feeds, which creates a smoother viewing experience. But for advertisers, there’s no way of discerning when or if their ads have been shown – they just have to trust that the platform’s server has done its job properly. That’s right, despite paying three-four times more for an ad on a streaming platform, more often than not, there’s no way for an advertiser to independently check if their ad has been seen. This presents a lucrative opportunity for fraudsters. On the web, advertisers can access information about click-through and impression rates, and can spot anomalous behaviour that might indicate fake traffic, whereas streaming platforms give them no such insight – a situation that is ripe for exploitation. And this isn’t just a hypothetical problem – we’re already seeing high rates of web and mobile traffic impersonating OTT traffic. We’re even seeing traffic from platforms that don’t run ads! And don’t think that a subscription model, where all content is paid for, offers watertight protection – fraudsters have no problem impersonating a paid traffic channel either. Fraud can eat away at an eco-system from the inside. For the streaming platforms and channels, ad revenue that should rightfully be theirs is being gobbled up by fake traffic, particularly when the ads are being served programmatically – that is, without any direct participation from the publisher. And for advertisers, their budget is being thrown away without any demonstrable return. While advertisers on the web have become resigned to the fact that a proportion of their spend will be wasted on fake impressions, advertisers on streaming platforms – particularly those from a TV background – are likely to be a lot less tolerant given the sums of money involved. So Why Isn’t Something Being Done About This? Remember, the streaming industry’s party is in full swing right now, and its focus is on growing audience share and traffic on their platforms – the last thing they want is to start questioning where some of that traffic is coming from, or whether or not it’s real. And yet, this is exactly the time when they need to address this issue, before the streaming eco-system becomes as corrupted as the web. By integrating traffic verification technology into platforms now, they can nip fraud in the bud before burgeoning legacy infrastructure makes this too complex to achieve. Being able to offer a fraud-free environment to advertisers will protect platforms’ future revenue, while doing nothing will just encourage the fraudsters. The streaming industry should enjoy its party, but it needs to throw unwelcome guests out on the street where they belong. Read the full piece on MarTechAdvisor
Protected Media Launches OTT Supply Side Ad Verification
In a market first, TV manufacturers, OTT TV channels and TV advertising platforms can now provide demand partners with fraud-free digital CTV ad marketplaces24th September 2019, Tel Aviv – Protected Media, the leading provider of ad fraud detection solutions, announced the launch of its groundbreaking SDK for CTV and OTT. With the new SDK OTT traffic can be verified at the source for the first time, providing media buyers with clean marketplaces in which to purchase fraud-free, viewable inventory. The SDK is unique as it verifies each impression which is then digitally signed. The data attaches to the impression as an identifier which can be authenticated by anyone along the distribution flow at a trusted Protected Media server. The SDK also provides a constant live data source to facilitate the artificial intelligence powering Protected Media’s Prebid Solution. Protected Media’s OTT SDK is available for content owners, OTT operating system providers and technical OTT platforms. The use of the OTT SDK by supply side partners removes that burden of validating traffic from the advertisers, and places it in the hands of the supply side who can use verification as a tool to boost CPMs and protect their own reputation. With OTT ad revenues predicted to double by 2020, trends indicate that OTT is ripe for exploitation and supply side stakeholders have no protection from opportunistic cyber criminals who regularly exploit vulnerabilities in the ad tech stack. “OTT and CTV audiences are growing rapidly,” explains Joe Hirsch, CEO at SpringServe, the leader in video ad serving and a Protected Media customer. “While there is an abundance of high quality traffic sources, it’s important to remember that there are unscrupulous groups who attempt to make money with suspicious activities. For this reason, we work with Protected Media. We believe that a robust IVT detection solution is a critical component for protecting buyers from bad actors.” “Our advertising monetization platform serves millions of OTT ads every day,” says Thomas Engdahl, President CEO of Vidillion, Inc. “As a technology provider with access to data for which demand-side verification vendors cannot reach, we understand that advertisers need a verified, fraud-free marketplace to increase trust and transparency in the OTT programmatic space. That’s why we’ve chosen to integrate Protected Media’s multilayered ad protection technology into the Vidillion Advertising monetization platform.” In a unique position as a supply side verification vendor, Protected Media empowers customers to define data parameters for analysis. “The OTT space has a unique set of challenges when it comes to verifying that traffic is indeed fraud free,” adds Asaf Greiner, CEO at Protected Media. “Besides being a nascent vertical which is fragmented and extremely complex, there are additional components which make it a more sophisticated space to navigate. For example, the use of Server Side Ad Insertion for ad stitching means that it’s impossible to implement third party verification code onto creatives.” “For this reason, our solution is built to be baked into the OTT ad tech stack – we work with groups who can place our verification technology into parts of the funnel that no one else can access. Our expertise in cyber security, together with access to the technology underpinning the OTT platforms, means that we provide the market’s first evidence based, granular solution for verifying OTT traffic.”
