MPA Upgrades Trusted Partner Network to Improve Security in Studio Supply Chains

The Motion Picture Association is building a platform and services that assess the content security assurance of producers and their suppliers.

The Trusted Partner Network, which measures member content security against a set of best practices, now includes software and cloud security ratings in addition to physical locations and home offices. Relaunched as a TPN+ platform, the intention of the Trusted Partner Network is to have a set of standards for providers to prevent cases such as leaking footage of big blockbusters before release.

The new platform is designed to help members manage and communicate their content security status, including non-TPN security certifications such as ISO and Soc2, and to comply with a set of updated MPA best practices. The Trusted Partner Network includes smaller companies and large pre- and post-production companies and content owners.

In 2017, the MPA founded the Alliance for Creativity in Entertainment, a global network of companies dedicated to combating piracy. The following year, the Trusted Partner Network was established. The MPA has a long history of content security best practices, but as part of the Trusted Partner Network, a provider’s protections are reviewed and investigated by independent auditors. It is up to the content owners to decide which providers and suppliers to use based on the risk assessment.

Karyn Temple, Senior Executive Vice President and Global General Counsel at MPA, said: “We are delighted to have Trusted Partner Network and ACE back our content with this 360-degree content protection and content security pipeline dated Protect script to screen to ensure that the legal market for film, television and streaming can flourish.”

Terri Davies, president of TPN, said that until recently the program only did physical security assessments of locations, things like cameras and locked doors. But the pandemic has increased the urgency to update the program. “Obviously, with Covid, the industry’s migration to the cloud was significantly accelerated as all the buildings we assessed had to be closed,” said Davies. “So what we’re starting now is application and cloud security assessments.”

The upgrade is also said to bring more functionality and flexibility to the platform. The Trusted Partner Network was created to streamline the process of determining a provider’s security level, rather than requiring all content owners to duplicate this process.

Davies said the early adopters who signed up for the program “range from small honeymoon shops in Bangalore who are passionate about visual effects to multi-million dollar entertainment companies around the world.”

She added, “We’ve created much more of a matrix where we understand that in today’s world, to really appreciate a person’s security posture, you have to understand their entire technology stack and really examine every component that constitute the service. they offer. .”