• by Charlene Weisler , Op-Ed Contributor, January 3, 2019

As the world moves more and more online. the importance of cybersecurity becomes paramount. For many industries like hospitals, cybersecurity is a life and death issue when machines and devices can be hacked and turned off. In media, the stakes are arguably less dangerous — but this issue is still vital to the health of our business models and our industry in general.

SOSA is a privately funded company that describes itself as a global open innovation platform that “accesses external technology and implements solutions, helping companies verify goals, enable joint ventures, M&A and cybersecurity,” according to Uzi Scheffer, CEO.

What this means is that we now have a company dedicated to matching technology upstarts with both funding sources and larger corporate clients to help find solutions to technology challenges.

The most critical challenges in the field of cybersecurity today are hackers. But while election hacking is getting the most attention, Scheffer believes that, while important, this is not as critical an area as, say, automotive self-driving cars as well as connected homes, utility infrastructure and medical hacks — all of which have global repercussions. “I am terrified where one hack can scale globally and is borderless,” he stated.

What This Means For Media Companies
Although not specifically a media company initiative, the presence of SOSA holds new opportunity for our industry, from creating assured protocols for privacy, effective solutions for piracy, full attribution across all platforms and accurate authentication.

As media companies expand their deliverables with more interactive experiences such as VR and AR which increase viewer engagement, “it also exposes companies to threats on their databases and exposes the audience to unauthenticated sources, a problem that we all know as fake news,” noted Scheffer.

SOSA incubates start-ups that combat fake news like Caybra, which offers a platform that detects in real time planned fraudulent and slanderous campaigns on the social networks behind which stand counterfeit profiles.

“This is exactly the type of holistic solution we need to foster and promote — to protect against the attackers on every level, not just on the day of the attack," Scheffer  added.

In a world of data, the ability to accurately collect, measure and track remains, at once, the biggest opportunity and the biggest challenge across all industries, including media. New IoT technologies such as smart homes and voice assistants fuel more consumer insight data and, at the same time, increase the potential for hackers with nefarious intent. The arrival of SOSA with its cyber initiative promises to help enforce data security and accuracy. In media, the potential extends beyond the policing of Fake News and can lead to better solutions for attribution, authentication and targeting. Stay tuned.