MEMPHIS, Tenn., Dec. 11, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cybersecurity company DEV/CON DETECT today announced the official launch of their proprietary, patent-protected software designed to eliminate online advertising fraud. DEV/CON DETECT’s innovative and unprecedented subscription-based technology detects, repairs, and monitors technical and organizational vulnerabilities to protect and recover revenue for all ad-supported digital media entities. Losses from fraud are expected to total as much as 10 percent of the $80 billion-plus digital advertising expenditures projected* for 2017.
Recognizing that existing ad fraud companies like White Ops, Integral Ad Science (IAS) and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) focused on click-fraud, ad quality issues, and verification initiatives like ads.txt which all work to create transparency for the ad buyers, industry insiders Maggie Louie and Josh Summitt undertook the challenge of creating transparency for the publisher-side revenue losses. Hijacked tags and the injection of malicious programs intended to divert digital ad revenue, criminally, is a growing new threat facing the online publishing and advertising industry.
DEV/CON DETECT addresses these vulnerabilities that directly impact premium network and programmatic advertising essential to revenue success for publishers, brands, media companies, ad networks and agencies. This includes “clickjacking” and online ad fraud that is often unreported. DEV/CON DETECT provides a comprehensive threat detection, revenue protection SaaS platform, to identify and remediate sources of revenue loss.
“We are thrilled to leave stealth mode and establish DEV/CON DETECT as the leading security solution for publishers and ad tech platforms,” said Maggie Louie, DEV/CON DETECT founder and CEO. “Most cybersecurity companies working in media and advertising are focused on blocking bots and malware that only treat the symptoms. Our technology and indexing identifies the exact hijacked ad slots, ad-injections, and networks allowing ‘spammy,’ low-quality ads. Our team of digital advertising professionals, white-hat hackers, and data scientists has created a first-of-its-kind detection and remediation solution, and we’re gratified that the investment community is rallying to support our growth.”
With deep experience in Ad Tech, mobile product development, e-commerce, and revenue allocation technology with The E.W. Scripps Co., the Los Angeles Times and Morris Communications, Louie realized the extent of the problem first hand. She unexpectedly uncovered methods that a publisher’s lead developer was able to exploit the company’s content management system (CMS), ad server and cache servers to embezzle nearly $1 million dollars. That discovery led to criminal charges being filed and a successful prosecution of the developer, which resulted in a percentage of revenue being recovered. This case established DEV/CON DETECT as an emerging technology company.
Co-founder and CTO Josh Summitt, brings extensive IT and Cybersecurity expertise to the startup’s impressive founding line-up. He has been praised as “a very skilled security analyst and would be an asset to any organization that needs to mature its security program” by no less than computer security expert and former high-profile hacker Kevin Mitnick, who worked with Summitt for five years.
“Programmatic ad fraud is a prevalent problem in the industry,” said Henri Deshays, Partner, Newfund US. “Publishers are the most impacted yet there is no comprehensive solution that caters to them. We believe that DEV/CON is best positioned to protect publishers from an increasing number of cyber attacks. For the first time, publishers can rely not only on a complete database of known malware and exploits but also on unknown threats, thanks to DEV/CON’s monitoring solution.”
The $1.29 million in seed round funding capital raised by Louie was led by Paris and San Francisco-based Newfund’s investment. Additional investors include Golden Seeds, Innova Memphis, Off The Grid Ventures, The JumpFund, GAN Ventures, Las Olas Venture Capital, Start Co., Hampus Jakobsson and Chad and Kelly Fowler. Funds will power a strong pipeline and extend market growth with a focus on advancing the existing DEV/CON platform and expanding sales teams. Innova Memphis partner Jan Bouten will join the DEV/CON board effective December 1, 2017. Further investor information and quotes can be found at https://www.devcondetect.com/about/.
About DEV/CON DETECT
Based in Memphis, privately-held DEV/CON DETECT is one of the first companies created to help media organizations detect and protect against internal and external security threats to advertising revenue streams. Founders Maggie Louie and Josh Summitt have established track records as successful leaders in the digital publishing and media industries, including IT, cybersecurity, mobile application development, mobile revenue security and development, e-commerce infrastructure, ad tech and product engagement for companies such as the E.W.Scripps Company, the Los Angeles Times, Morris Communications and Bank of America to name a few.
DEV/CON DETECT is one of the primary innovators addressing the growing need for ad tech security and revenue protection. The DEV/CON DETECT team of digital advertising professionals, white-hat hackers, and data scientists leverage patent-protected technology to detect, fix, and monitor both technical and organizational vulnerabilities to protect and increase agency and publisher revenue. DEV/CON DETECT’s ad tech security platform has a provisional patent acquired June 2017, full international utility patent pending. Registered Trademark – Ad Tech Security®
For more information on the company and its technology, go to: https://www.devcondetect.com/.
Original article found at https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/12/11/1250908/0/en/DEV-CON-DETECT-Disrupts-Ad-Tech-Industry-with-Fraud-Detection-and-Prevention-Technology.html