HUMAN Security: ad fraud and bot detection, MRC accreditation, CTV research and alternatives

HUMAN started where most verification vendors finish: catching bots. Its core job is to tell a real person from software, whether the software clicks an ad, loads a page or fakes a TV. The same detection protects retailers' login pages and checkout flows, which is why HUMAN describes itself as a cybersecurity company. It says it verifies "more than 20 trillion digital interactions per week" across advertising, e-commerce and other sectors (company claim, PR Newswire, 25 January 2024).

In advertising, its customers are often the platforms in the middle. A supply-side platform (SSP) or DSP sends HUMAN a bid request and gets back a verdict it can use to drop the impression. That puts HUMAN upstream of the buyer's own verification vendor. Walmart Connect, for example, is having its onsite display measurement audited by the MRC with SIVT filtering performed by HUMAN (MRC services under review, accessed 9 November 2026).

HUMAN is now moving into the rest of verification. Its viewability product won MRC accreditation in April 2026. On 5 October 2026 it launched an Ad Integrity Suite for Platforms that adds viewability and brand safety signals. OpenX is the launch partner, and more features are due in the first half of 2027 (PPC Land, 5 October 2026). The analyst Karsten Weide estimated that DoubleVerify and IAS hold roughly three-quarters of verification spend (analyst estimate, PPC Land, 5 October 2026).

Detection runs at two points, and the MRC audits each separately (MRC letter, 14 April 2026):

1. Pre-bid, Ad Fraud Defense. A platform passes selected fields or the whole bid request to HUMAN's service, known as MediaGuard. HUMAN, as White Ops, said responses usually came back in 10 milliseconds or less (PPC Land, 5 October 2026). The platform drops requests flagged as general (GIVT) or sophisticated invalid traffic.
2. Post-bid, Ad Fraud Sensor. Code that runs with the served ad reports impressions, decisions and incomplete loads, split into gross, net of GIVT and net of SIVT. The newer Ad Viewability Measurement product sits on the same sensor and removes invalid traffic before it calculates viewability (PPC Land, 27 April 2026).

Behind both sits threat research. HUMAN's Satori team names and disrupts schemes, then feeds their signatures back into detection. The company lists past takedowns such as 3ve, Methbot, PARETO and BADBOX (PR Newswire, 25 January 2024). The FBI's June 2025 warning on BADBOX 2.0, a botnet of compromised streaming boxes and other home devices, credits HUMAN among its contributors (FBI IC3, 5 June 2025).

CTV is the current front. On 7 July 2026 HUMAN described NewsJunkie, a scheme that spoofed device, app and IP details through server-side ad insertion (SSAI) and residential IP addresses. At its peak it produced up to nearly two billion invalid bid requests a day per seller, by HUMAN's count (PPC Land, 11 July 2026).

The Media Rating Council (MRC) board voted on 14 April 2026 to continue HUMAN's accreditation for its Ad Measurement Platform and to grant first-time accreditation for viewability. The table follows that letter and the MRC's public list, read on 9 November 2026 (MRC letter; MRC accredited digital services).

For connected TV (CTV), the picture is clean on fraud and empty on everything else. HUMAN holds accredited CTV detection both before and after the bid, a scope only DoubleVerify matches among third-party vendors on the MRC list. It has no accredited CTV viewability or brand checks (MRC accredited digital services).

The TAG link runs through the same audit. An addendum to the April 2026 letter says the accredited SIVT functions meet two Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) Certified Against Fraud requirements: filtering known fraudulent domains and data-center IP addresses (MRC letter, TAG addendum).

HUMAN publishes no prices and, as a private company, files no reports that would show its revenue model. Its October 2026 launch carried no pricing either (PPC Land, 5 October 2026). In 2024 the company said it had passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue (company claim, PR Newswire, 25 January 2024).

Because HUMAN often sells to platforms, a buyer may pay for it indirectly through an exchange or DSP. Ask your platforms whether they screen supply with HUMAN, which product they use and whether the IVT rate they report comes from HUMAN's accredited metrics. The ad fraud detection tools comparison lists the questions to put to any vendor.

Strengths

• Pre-bid and post-bid CTV fraud accreditation. Both are accredited on all four screen types (MRC letter).
• Threat research with outside credit. Law enforcement has credited its work, as in the FBI's BADBOX 2.0 warning (FBI IC3).
• Placement inside platforms. Screening at the SSP or exchange removes bad supply before every buyer sees it.

Limits

• Verification beyond fraud is new. Viewability was accredited in April 2026, brand safety signals are not accredited, and the platform suite named one partner at launch (PPC Land, 5 October 2026).
• No public financials or prices. Buyers cannot benchmark cost or scale beyond company claims.
• Less visible to buyers. When a platform runs HUMAN, the advertiser may only see the platform's summary, not HUMAN's own report.

• HUMAN's founding year and current shareholders; its website could not be accessed.
• Prices, contract structures and revenue after the January 2024 claim.
• The full list of platforms using MediaGuard today, and the June 2026 advertiser launch release itself.
• HUMAN's entry in TAG's public registry, which our tools could not load.

1. Media Rating Council, HUMAN accreditation letter with TAG Certified Against Fraud addendum (14 April 2026). https://mediaratingcouncil.org/sites/default/files/Accreditation%20Letters/HUMAN/GI041426_HUMAN%20Accreditation%20Letter.pdf
2. Media Rating Council, accredited digital services (accessed 9 November 2026). https://mediaratingcouncil.org/accreditation/digital
3. Media Rating Council, digital services under review (accessed 9 November 2026). https://mediaratingcouncil.org/accreditation/services-under-review/digital
4. HUMAN Security via PR Newswire, "HUMAN Security Announces Strategic Leadership Transition" (25 January 2024). https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/human-security-announces-strategic-leadership-transition-tamer-hassan-to-become-executive-chairman-stu-solomon-appointed-to-ceo-302045046.html
5. SecurityWeek, "HUMAN Security and PerimeterX Merge" (27 July 2022). https://www.securityweek.com/human-security-and-perimeterx-merge-mission-combat-bots/
6. SecurityWeek, "White Ops Secures $7 Million to Expand Bot-detection Technology" (27 June 2014). https://www.securityweek.com/white-ops-secures-7-million-expand-bot-detection-technology
7. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center, public service announcement on BADBOX 2.0 (5 June 2025). https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2025/PSA250605
8. PPC Land, "OpenX is first platform to adopt HUMAN Security's ad verification suite" (5 October 2026). https://ppc.land/openx-is-first-platform-to-adopt-human-securitys-ad-verification-suite/
9. PPC Land, "HUMAN needs one or two clients to prove its ad suite, Weide says" (5 October 2026). https://ppc.land/human-needs-one-or-two-clients-to-prove-its-ad-suite-weide-says/
10. PPC Land, "HUMAN Security kills NewsJunkie CTV fraud scheme" (11 July 2026). https://ppc.land/human-security-kills-newsjunkie-ctv-fraud-scheme-hitting-2-billion-bids-daily/