HIRO Media has announced that they are launching a new ad-filtering solution that is designed specifically to prevent advertising that is used to spread malware. This technique, known as malvertising, is one of the ways that bad actors in the industry spread their malware quickly and fairly inexpensively.
The company has a focus on programmatic video ads, and that is primarily where this new system will help. It helps publishers of news, sports and other video focused web content to have improved control over their programmatic tags. It also uses a white-list approach to help filter any type of code object that viewers may access in real time.
Depending on the code detected and the settings, the system will either simply remove the potentially malicious code so it can display a clean ad, or it will completely reject the ad so nobody sees it.
HIRO services up about two billion ads per month in the US, which is about 5% of all video ads in the country. This move can help to protect millions of people each month from having to experience malware (even if they don’t know they would have been impacted).
HIRO Media CEO, Ariel Napchi said, “Working with major publishers and hearing from them about the struggles and challenges they face as participants in the programmatic sphere has made looking for a solution a priority. This new tool allows us to help make our industry a safer and better place for all its participants”
This type of solution is just what the industry needs in its constant battle with ad fraud and malware. Hopefully it is as effective as HIRO Media claims it will be.
