Since launching its upgraded program and new TPN+ platform in early February, the Trusted Partner Network (TPN), powered by the Motion Picture Association (MPA), is experiencing rapid adoption of its initiative. Now with over 500 members across 49 countries, and 70 percent of membership coming from new participants, TPN continues to be the single benchmark and ‘source of truth’ of security preparedness for content owners, service providers and software application providers, as well as the assessors who are members of the program. TPN supports and streamlines content security, providing an industry-wide compliance baseline for security through the entire media and entertainment supply chain.
“Our approach has always been about active engagement with the stakeholder community, and a commitment to understanding and addressing the pain points around content security,” explains Terri Davies, TPN president (pictured, left). This has helped us to advance our initiative and grow as a global community network dedicated to keeping content secure across entire media supply chains. It’s really encouraging to see the industry responding so positively to the changes we have made to the program. We welcome continued feedback on how we can proactively support the multiple perspectives of our member content owners, service providers, assessors, and now software application providers, who have chosen to join the TPN community and be a voice in the vitally important topic of content security in our industry.
“One hundred days after launch, we have already received terrific feedback from our members,” Davies adds. “We carefully review all feedback and suggestions, and have already updated our program and TPN+ platform in many instances. We have always talked about progress over perfection, and our commitment to an iterative, continuous improvement strategy, and it’s very heartening to be able to put this into action so quickly after launch. We will continue to update our program as the landscape of content creation rapidly evolves, and will constantly adapt and align ourselves with the latest trends to ensure we’re examining the implications of vulnerabilities for organizations.”
By growing the community to include software applications and enhancing security standards in a continuous improvement cycle, TPN enables and supports service providers of all sizes, locations and service offerings to proactively communicate and manage their security preparedness in a centralized, transparent and diligent manner. This, in turn, provides a trusted go-to knowledge base and resource for content owners to make informed, independent risk-management decisions about the cyber-resiliency measures that their service providers have implemented to keep content safe.
Serving as a centralized source of content security preparedness, the TPN+ platform is accelerating how service providers and software application companies (regardless of annual revenue or size) report their security status, both from a self-reporting and a third-party assessment standpoint. This all-inclusive approach greatly reduces duplicate efforts for security status reporting and tracking of cloud-based, software application workflows and on-site content security measures.
“The fixed membership cost structure, which bundles variable and administrative costs, is based on gross annual revenue, so individual contributor members, for example, find the membership tiers achievable,” Davies explains. “Close to 60 percent of new TPN members have joined at tier 1 and 2 levels. This has really removed cost barriers and opened an equitable opportunity for facilities and software application providers of all sizes to participate and communicate their security preparedness.”
TPN membership also offers all service providers, and in particular software application providers, a platform to share their non-TPN security certificates, such as ISO and SOC2, and showcase their pre-existing commitment to security. Added to this is the ability for all service providers to list their licensed software applications, which in turn improves the transparency of a service provider’s supply chain and ecosystem, which is vitally important in today’s environment. In essence, the TPN+ platform offers visibility across a service provider’s entire matrix of services and technology stack for the entire content ecosystem, from cloud to ground, including the applications being used.
“Our value-added benefits have incentivized our members’ active participation in the TPN network, offering them tangible security advantages to their business,” adds Crystal Pham (pictured, right), TPN VP operations and product management. “We’ve established clear communication and feedback channels, a logical and visual step-through process for service providers to communicate their security preparedness status, as well as strengthened industry processes and standards required to protect content. We’ve been extremely attentive to the user experience of the TPN+ platform, ensuring our members (from individual freelancers to global multi-location facilities) can intuitively and more effectively self-manage their security status, TPN questionnaires, and assessments.”
The breadth and depth of the TPN team’s combined in-house expertise and industry background touch on all aspects of the content creation process, having held high-level positions in studios, post production houses, content licensing and distribution, content security, data and program management, and standards bodies. Each TPN team member is heavily invested in creating global and inclusive benefits for the industry. They each joined TPN with the intent to raise the visibility of content security vulnerabilities, evolve a program and platform that benefits all stakeholders in the content process, as well as foster collaboration and engagement.
“Given the need to rapidly address and improve content security for our industry, we are continuously refining and improving,” notes Davies. “This is just the beginning for TPN and its contributions to the industry at large. By regularly evaluating our program and gathering feedback from our partners and key stakeholders in the industry, we can identify areas for improvement and take action to address obstacles and gaps, as well as capture data and input to help closely track industry trends. It’s always been our goal to create a dynamic partner network that drives mutual success in protecting our valuable content.”