The IAB Tech Lab has taken a major step in tightening the defenses of digital advertising. The global standards body announced the rollout of Device Attestation in its Open Measurement SDK (OM SDK) — a new security feature designed to expose one of the industry’s biggest pain points: device spoofing.
Currently supported on Apple devices and Amazon Fire TV, the feature allows advertisers, publishers, and verification vendors to confirm whether ads are served on legitimate devices — a crucial development as Connected TV (CTV) and mobile ad ecosystems grapple with fraudulent activity.
“OM SDK gave buyers standardized, consistent measurement metrics across screens and devices,” said Anthony Katsur, CEO of IAB Tech Lab. “Device Attestation builds on that foundation and delivers a critical step for CTV growth.”
Closing the Spoofing Gap
Device spoofing — where fraudsters falsify device information to mimic premium inventory — has long been a costly vulnerability in programmatic advertising. It skews measurement, wastes ad spend, and undermines trust in CTV and mobile supply chains.
To counter this, IAB Tech Lab’s OM SDK now incorporates the IETF’s Privacy Pass Protocol, allowing device manufacturers to issue privacy-preserving attestations that prove a device is genuine. These attestations enable ad buyers to independently verify inventory authenticity, providing a powerful signal to detect and block spoofed traffic.
Industry Voices on a New Verification Era
The move has garnered wide support from across the ad tech ecosystem.
“Device spoofing is a significant attack vector for bad actors generating invalid traffic,” said Ron Pinelli, SVP, Digital Research & Standards at the Media Rating Council (MRC). “This enhancement to OM SDK will help improve IVT detection and measurement capabilities.”
Amazon Ads, DoubleVerify, and HUMAN — all contributors to the Open Measurement Commit Group — echoed similar enthusiasm.
Neal Richter, Director at Amazon DSP, noted, “By receiving secure signals directly from Fire TV devices, we can be confident we’re getting inventory from real devices. As adoption grows, this will create more transparency and trust in CTV advertising.”
For HUMAN, which has long championed fraud detection, the feature represents “a fundamental shift,” said Geoff Stupay, SVP, Global Head of Product. “Buyers can now identify quality inventory confidently, while sellers can differentiate their trusted supply paths.”
DoubleVerify’s Gilit Saporta added that while DV already detects fraud at scale, “this new signal strengthens confidence in the quality of media transactions.”
Why This Matters for the Market
Since its launch in 2018, the OM SDK has served as a shared foundation for third-party ad verification — standardizing measurement across fragmented devices and platforms. The addition of Device Attestation not only enhances fraud detection but also brings new accountability to an ecosystem struggling to prove what’s real and what’s not.
As CTV ad spend continues to surge — projected to top $40 billion globally by 2026 — ensuring that impressions are authentic is no longer optional. The IAB Tech Lab’s update could set a new benchmark for verification standards across the industry, potentially pressuring rivals to follow suit.
For buyers, this means cleaner measurement and less wasted spend. For sellers, it ensures trustworthy monetization. And for verification firms, it adds a crucial layer of device-level authenticity.
In short: the OM SDK’s new Device Attestation may not end fraud overnight, but it’s a big step toward making ad verification something advertisers can actually believe in.
