Category Archives: Trustworthy Accountability Group

Ad industry body issues first certificates for anti-malware best practices

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The digital advertising industry’s cybersecurity assessment and information-sharing organization has issued its first set of anti-malware certifications, signing off on measures against cyberattacks taken by nine companies who represent as much as half of the digital advertising market. The Trustworthy Accountability Group, or TAG, issued “Certified Against Malware” seals Monday to AppNexus, DataXu, Google, LKQD, OpenX, Publishers Clearing House, Rocket Fuel, Sovrn, and The Media Trust, TAG CEO Mike Zaneis told CyberScoop in an interview. Zaneis estimated the nine companies between them probably touched up to half of digital advertising impressions on any given day. “I don’t have an exact percentage,” he added, “but there are major players here … A big chunk of the [digital advertising] supply chain.” The seal means that the companies have “implemented TAG’s rigorous anti-malware standards,” according to a statement from the group. Traditionally, ads have been a favorite way for hackers to serve malware and other malicious content, […]

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Ad industry launches cybersecurity intelligence-sharing organization

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Digital advertisers’ Trustworthy Accountability Group said it will take on a new cybersecurity role as the first information-sharing and analysis organization in the industry. “Despite the widespread vulnerabilities facing digital advertising — including ad-distributed malware, malicious pirate sites, and security holes exploited by fraud — there has not been an official ISAO to help coordinate the digital ad industry’s response to those threats to this point,” Andrew Weinstein, a spokesperson for the group, said. TAG’s announcement comes the same day of the discovery of Judy malware, auto-clicking adware that reached over 4.5 million downloads in the Google Play store across 41 apps. The infecting apps were recently removed by Google after several years on the store. Malware cuts into the advertising industry’s bottom line.  In addition to slowing connections and distracting users, malvertising can pose serious cybersecurity risks and deliver downright dangerous payloads. Making ads more secure raises the possibility that users won’t […]

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