NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 11/19/12 -- Solve Media (www.SolveMedia.com) today announced the formation of the first Security Advisory Council specifically focused on online advertising. Inaugural council members include world-renowned information security experts Kevin Mitnick, Adam J. O'Donnell, Bruce Schneier, Chris Wysopal and Elad Yoran. Creation of the council was spurred by a recent Solve Media survey of 200 IT-focused online publishing professionals in which 69 percent said they were extremely concerned with bot traffic. Solve Media's anti-bot CAPTCHA security platform specifically addresses bot traffic affecting both publishers and advertisers by authenticating that audiences are, in fact, human.

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, interactive ad spend reached a record $17 billion globally in the first half of 2012 and is projected to be greater than print ad spend by Q4. Solve Media previously identified that as much as 10 percent of all online traffic is generated by bots. This means potentially $1.7 billion of online ad spending is wasted marketing to bots that will never become customers.

"Security is a growing concern for both advertisers and publishers as they recognize the substantial negative brand and monetary impact of bots," says Ari Jacoby, CEO of Solve Media. "Agencies prefer to work with publishers that have safeguards against bot traffic so they are not wasting ad spend, and publishers want to offer quality inventory. To improve the industry, we enlisted the top information security experts to discuss how best to address online security quandaries and advise our agency clients and publisher partners."

The Solve Media Security Council will organize the industry's best security minds around this issue to help deliver a solution that benefits advertisers and publishers. The Council is tasked with identifying ways to combat bots and other serious security issues plaguing online advertising, and providing expert guidance to advertisers and publishers seeking security help. Below is additional information about each council member:

• Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, cryptographer, author, and founder of BT Managed Security Solutions. Described by The Economist as a "security guru," Schneier has testified before the US Congress and is the author of a dozen books including the bestseller Applied Cryptography. Bruce Schneier is a prominent international speaker who has presented at TED, RSA, DEF CON, and Hacktivity among many other events.
• Chris Wysopal is a Blackhat Review Board member and CTO of Veracode. He has been named one of the 100 most influential people in IT and an InfoWorld CTO 25. He has been lead security researcher for @stake and director of development at Symantec and helped to produce the Organization for Internet Safety. Wysopal is co-author of the award winning password auditing and recovery application L0phtCrack currently used by over 6,000 organizations worldwide.
• Kevin Mitnick is the NY Times Bestselling Author of Ghost in the Wires, and frequently cited as the world's most famous hacker. He is well known for using social engineering tactics and has testified before the US Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. In a previous life, Mitnick successfully hacked into organizations including Motorola, Nokia, Sun Microsystems, and Fujitsu Siemens. He is currently CEO of Mitnick Security Consulting LLC.
• Dr. Adam J. O'Donnell is the Chief Architect in the Cloud Technology Group at Sourcefire, and the author of numerous academic papers regarding malware and network security. He has been cited in publications including IEEE Security & Privacy, CNET, & The New York Times.
• Elad Yoran is the Chairman and CEO of Vaultive, Inc, and founder or executive director of security companies MediaSentry, Riptech, and Sentrigo which were acquired by SafeNet, McAfee and Symantec respectively. Yoran has been awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young. He is a member of the FBI Information Technology Advisory Council, and is a regular speaker on innovation as well as IT security technology and market trends.

"I have spent my career counseling the masses on how security really works in the hopes of helping companies, organizations and the general public prevent online attacks and security breaches," says Bruce Schneier. "Solve Media's unique CAPTCHA solution is also helping to prevent security breaches by hampering bots access to advertiser, publisher and consumer data. I've joined Solve Media's Security Council to further combat Internet security vulnerabilities."

"It is important for security experts to understand vulnerabilities from the attacker's perspective to be effective," says Chris Wysopal, CTO of Veracode. "The steps Solve Media is taking to combat Internet bots is a solid start and my experience identifying and exposing Internet security vulnerabilities will help them build out their offering."

"Having started my career hacking into some of the most secure government and corporate fortresses, I am fully aware of how serious a threat there is to public and private sector security," says Kevin Mitnick, CEO of Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC. "I'm happy to bring my expertise to the Solve Media Security Council in the hopes of helping others protect their valuable information assets."

"Solve Media has produced one of the most interesting solutions to the CAPTCHA generation problem that I have seen in a very long time, and I am very excited to help advise them on the security space at large," said Dr. Adam J. O'Donnell, Chief Architect in the Cloud Technology Group at Sourcefire.

"My mission has always been to improve innovation within the security industry to better combat vulnerabilities," says Elad Yoran, CEO of Vaultive Inc. "Solve Media embraced a similar mission in online advertising and their continued commitment is evident in their creation of this council."

About Solve Media
Solve Media (www.SolveMedia.com) was founded by veteran entrepreneurs and technologists focused on innovative Internet advertising solutions and security. The Company's proprietary online advertising platform, the TYPE-IN™, was designed to create new and highly effective opportunities for brands to advertise online. With the platform, Solve Media guarantees brand message delivery, brand lift and return on investment for advertisers. Additionally, the security platform creates new revenue opportunities for publishers and saves time for consumers. Backed by First Round Capital, New Atlantic Ventures, AOL Ventures, Bullpen Capital and prominent angel investors, Solve Media is based in New York City and Philadelphia.