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Draft:HUMAN Security

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HUMAN Security, Inc.
FormerlyWhite Ops (2012–2021)
TypePrivate
IndustryComputer security, Online advertising, Agentic Commerce
Founded2012; 14 years ago (2012) in Brooklyn, New York City, U.S.
Founders
Headquarters
New York City
,
U.S.
Key people
  • Stu Solomon (CEO)
  • Isaac Itenberg (COO & CFO)
ProductsHuman Defense Platform
OwnerGoldman Sachs WestCap, ClearSky Security, NightDragon, Vertex Ventures US
Number of employees
~469 (2026)
Websitewww.humansecurity.com

HUMAN Security, Inc., formerly White Ops,[1] is an American computer security company that specializes in detecting and mitigating automated (bot) traffic, ad fraud, agentic AI governance, and online fraud.[2] The company is known for its investigating to dismantle several large-scale ad fraud and botnet operations, including Methbot, 3ve, and BADBOX.[3][4][5]

History

[edit]

White Ops was founded in 2012 by Tamer Hassan, Michael Tiffany, security researcher Dan Kaminsky, and Ash Kalb.[2][6] The company distinguished human internet users from automated bot traffic, particularly in digital advertising.[7] In 2016, White Ops publicly disclosed an ad-fraud operation it called "Methbot," which used rented data-center servers and spoofed domains to generate fraudulent advertising revenue from major U.S. advertisers.[3][4]

In November 2018, White Ops and Google, working with the FBI and roughly 20 other technology and security firms, announced the disruption of a botnet-based ad-fraud operation known as 3ve (pronounced "Eve").[3][8] According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 3ve infected more than 1.7 million computers, counterfeited thousands of websites, and caused advertisers to pay more than US$29 million for advertisements never seen by real users.[4] The DOJ unsealed a 13-count indictment against eight defendants in connection with 3ve and Methbot.[8] One defendant, Aleksandr Zhukov, who described himself as the "king of fraud," was later sentenced to 10 years in prison.[9]

In December 2020, White Ops was acquired by Goldman Sachs's Merchant Banking Division, in partnership with ClearSky Security and NightDragon.[10][11][12] The company previously raised about US$31 million in equity funding.[2]

In May 2019, Fast Company named Tamer Hassan the No. 1 Most Creative Person in Business.[13]

On March 30, 2021, the company rebranded from White Ops to HUMAN. Tamer Hassan announced the intention to change the name in October 2020, that the name "White Ops" carried unintended racial connotations through its association with terms such as "black ops," "whitelist," and "blacklist."[14] The company said the new name better reflected its mission and values.[15] In April 2021, HUMAN launched "The Human Collective," an industry program for sharing threat intelligence across the advertising ecosystem.[16]

In January 2022, HUMAN raised a US$100 million growth funding round led by WestCap and NightDragon.[17][18]

In July 2022, HUMAN announced a merger with PerimeterX, an Israeli-American company focused on protecting web applications from account takeover and automated abuse. The combined company operated under the HUMAN name with more than US$100 million in annual recurring revenue,[19][20] and the combined company's valuation at about US$1.5 billion.[21] PerimeterX co-founder Omri Iluz joined as president and general manager of enterprise security.[22] In November 2022, HUMAN acquired the anti-malvertising firm clean.io.[23]

In 2023, HUMAN was named to Time's list of the 100 Most Influential Companies, and its Human Defense Platform was included in the magazine's "Best Inventions" list the same year.[24]

In January 2024, HUMAN named Stu Solomon, formerly president of Recorded Future, as chief executive officer and co-founder Tamer Hassan moved to the role of executive chairman.[24][25] At the same year, Forrester Research named HUMAN a Leader in its Forrester Wave report on bot management software in 2024.[26]

In October 2024, HUMAN announced it raised more than $50 million in growth capital led by WestCap with additional investment from Goldman Sachs, ClearSky, NightDragon and Vertex Ventures US to develop new products, such as Ad Click Defense.[27][28]

In July 2026,  Forrester named HUMAN a Leader in Bot and Agent Trust Management Wave.[29]

Operations and products

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HUMAN's primary product is the Human Defense Platform, an analyzing over 20 trillion digital interactions every week[30] to distinguish legitimate human activity from bots, fraud, and automated abuse across advertising, applications, accounts, and transactions.[25] HUMAN uses machine learning and behavioral analysis to identify automated traffic.[18]

In October 2023, the Human Defense Platform was named one of TIME magazine's 200 Best Inventions of 2023 in the enterprise category.[31]

The platform's capabilities are organized across three main product suites: HUMAN Sightline Cyberfraud Defense, which protects applications from account takeover, credential stuffing, and scraping; AgenticTrust, a zero-trust governance layer built to secure and govern autonomous AI agent interactions; and Ad Integrity Suite, which provides invalid traffic (IVT) detection, ad fraud mitigation, and brand safety verification.[32]

In July 2025, HUMAN introduced HUMAN Sightline Cyberfraud Defense, the first adaptive trust layer for the agentic era.[33] In October, the company announced Page Intelligence to detect page-level bot activity in real time.

The company's research group, the Satori Threat Intelligence and Research Team, investigates bot, ad-fraud, and malware operations and publishes findings, frequently in collaboration with companies such as Google and law-enforcement agencies.[34][35]

BADBOX and BADBOX 2.0

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In 2023, HUMAN's Satori team disclosed a supply-chain fraud scheme it named BADBOX, involving low-cost Android-based IoT devices preloaded with malware.[5] In 2025, the team disclosed a successor operation, BADBOX 2.0, described as one of the largest known botnets of compromised connected-TV and IoT devices.[36] On June 5, 2025, the FBI issued a public service announcement warning consumers about the botnet, which it infected more than one million devices, primarily manufactured in China.[34][37] HUMAN worked with Google, Trend Micro, and the Shadowserver Foundation on efforts to disrupt the operation, and in July 2025 Google filed a lawsuit related to the botnet.[38]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "White Ops rebrands to Human". Campaign. March 30, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "White Ops Acquired by Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, ClearSky, and NightDragon". AlleyWatch. December 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 Sheridan, Kelly (November 27, 2018). "Google, White Ops, Industry Players Dismantle 3ve Ad Fraud Operation". Dark Reading. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Pratt, Mary K. (November 27, 2018). "Botnet takedown snares 3ve, Methbot ad fraud campaigns". TechTarget. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  5. 1 2 Zorz, Zeljka (June 6, 2025). "Millions of Android devices roped into Badbox 2.0 botnet. Is yours among them?". Help Net Security. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Goldman Sachs Acquires White Ops". Momentum Cyber. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  7. ↑ "White Ops Secures $7 Million in Series A Funding". Yahoo Finance. June 24, 2014. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  8. 1 2 Silverman, Craig (November 27, 2018). "How The FBI And Tech Industry Took Down A Massive Ad Fraud Scheme". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  9. ↑ Cimpanu, Catalin (December 19, 2022). ""King of fraud" sentenced to 10 years in prison for role in Methbot/3ve botnet". The Record. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Goldman Sachs leads acquisition of bot mitigation company White Ops". VentureBeat. 2020-12-24. Archived from the original on 2022-12-07. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  11. ↑ O'Reilly, Lara. "Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking is acquiring fraud detection firm White Ops as scammers spread to more corners of the web". Business Insider. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  12. ↑ AdExchanger (2020-12-22). "Goldman Sachs Acquires White Ops; Roku To Pass 100M US Users In 2020". AdExchanger. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  13. ↑ "How the No.1 most creative person in business this year led the FBI to its biggest ad-fraud bust ever". Fast Company. 2019-05-22. Archived from the original on 2021-12-08. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  14. ↑ Juang, Mike (March 30, 2021). "Cybersecurity company White Ops rebrands itself as HUMAN as awareness of racism in tech terms rises". Ad Age. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  15. ↑ Sullivan, Laurie (March 30, 2021). "White Ops Takes On Human Rebrand". MediaPost. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  16. ↑ "HUMAN Cements Leadership Position in Bot Mitigation and Fight Against Fraud". ExchangeWire. July 30, 2021. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  17. ↑ "HUMAN Security enters merger with PerimeterX". SC Media. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  18. 1 2 Sawers, Paul (July 27, 2022). "Human Security merges with PerimeterX to thwart bots and automated fraud". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  19. ↑ Lennon, Mike (2022-07-27). "HUMAN Security and PerimeterX Merge on Mission to Combat Bots". SecurityWeek. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  20. ↑ Hercher, James (2022-07-27). "Human Merges With PerimeterX To Grow Its Ecommerce And Retail Fraud Detection Business". AdExchanger. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  21. ↑ "PerimeterX to merge with HUMAN Security at estimated combined valuation of $1.5 billion". Calcalist. July 27, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  22. ↑ "HUMAN Security, PerimeterX announce merger to take on bots, identity fraud". Security Systems News. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Stu Solomon". Cybersecurity Excellence Awards. 2026. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  24. 1 2 "HUMAN Security Announces Strategic Leadership Transition: Tamer Hassan to Become Executive Chairman, Stu Solomon Appointed to CEO". PR Newswire. January 25, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  25. 1 2 "HUMAN Security Appoints Stu Solomon CEO". Citybiz. January 26, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  26. ↑ "HUMAN Continues to Be a Leader in Bot Management Software Industry with Recognition from Top Research Firm". Yahoo! Finance. July 1, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  27. ↑ "Human Security raises $50M+ to expand digital protection platform". SiliconANGLE. 2024-10-09. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  28. ↑ October 9, Michael Novinson•; 2024. "Human Security Raises $50M+ to Take on Click-Fraud Defense". www.bankinfosecurity.com. Retrieved 2026-08-13. {{cite web}}: |last2= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. ↑ "Human Recognized Leader in Top Research". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 13 August 2026.
  30. ↑ Murti, Lola (2026-03-26). "AI and bots have officially taken over the internet, report finds". CNBC. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  31. ↑ Lindzon, Jared (2023-10-24). "Human Defense Platform". TIME. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  32. ↑ "Agentic Trust Framework: Zero Trust for AI Agents | CSA". cloudsecurityalliance.org. Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  33. ↑ Only, Subscription (2025-10-07). "Human Security's New Tool Can Detect Bot Traffic on a Page in Real Time". Retrieved 2026-08-13.
  34. 1 2 Nair, Prajeet (June 7, 2025). "FBI Warns of BADBOX 2.0 Botnet Surge in Chinese Devices". GovInfoSecurity. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  35. ↑ GlobeNewswire (June 16, 2026). "HUMAN Named Leader for Advancing Threat Intelligence Actionability". AI-Tech Park. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
  36. ↑ "Home Internet Connected Devices Facilitate Criminal Activity". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  37. ↑ Budington, Alexis Hancock and Bill (2025-06-24). "FBI Warning on IoT Devices: How to Tell If You Are Impacted". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved 2026-06-29.
  38. ↑ "BADBOX 2.0 Case Study: Google's July 2025 Lawsuit Against the Botnet". Inland Cyber Defense Clinic, Claremont Graduate University. July 19, 2025. Retrieved June 29, 2026.
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