Trusted Partner Network president Terri Davies talks to TVBEurope about the importance of collaboration and certification in ensuring security in the media industry
By Jenny Priestley
Published: September 24, 2024 Updated: September 25, 2024
Trusted Partner Network president Terri Davies talks to TVBEurope about the importance of collaboration and certification in ensuring security in the media industry
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
The Trusted Partner Network (TPN) is a global security initiative, launched by the Motion Picture Association in 2018.
The aim of the organisation is to help vendors and film studios establish a single benchmark for security in various contexts and at various points in the content pipeline, including on-premise.
Before TPN was launched, vendors were often subject to multiple security audits when working with just one studio. As each vendor would often work with more than one studio, that meant lots of paperwork. TPN created a single benchmark built upon MPA best practices and its own questionnaire.
The needle, of course, went over the record when Covid happened, because all of the sites that had been assessed shut down and everybody moved to the cloud, explains TPN president Terri Davies. And really, because the best practices in TPN hadn't included software and applications at that time, the studios had no choice but to go back to the old ways and create their own application and cloud assessments, and therefore the industry became fragmented again.
Davies joined TPN in February 2022 and was tasked with refreshing the programme, reducing the best practices from 365 to around 65. In February 2023, TPN relaunched to include software applications and the cloud.
Coincidentally, in my old job, I had just been through a TPN assessment, so I experienced it firsthand, and it was painful. It was 450+ questions and not super comprehensive either. It took the 365 best practices and set a questionnaire on top, Davies continues, because, frankly, back in 2018 there was no budget, it was a group of well-intentioned people just wanting to follow progress over perfection and help.
Davies admits that the cloud does make things more complex compared to possible physical weaknesses such as doors and windows, but she believes security in the cloud is possible if just a bit more complicated.
TPN used to be very flat, very simple. It was vendor A in Barcelona, here's the site assessment for that Barcelona building, she explains. As we thought about bringing in software applications, which are mostly in the cloud these days, it suddenly made it much more matrixed.
Now, if a technology vendor completes the TPN assessment, any post or VFX house that uses that technology will automatically inherit the TPN assessment. Studios can then see the full technology stack and the fact that the post or VFX house is responsibly sourcing their technology partners.
TPN is not a pass or a fail, adds Davies, first of all, for antitrust reasons, but also because we've got all eight big studios, plus BBC, Canal Plus and Sky Studios now using the data, and they all have very different risk profiles. We provide information from which they make their own independent risk-based decisions. We also don't use the word certify, because that implies pass or fail.
At the time of our interview, TPN had awarded 637 gold shields. The process includes both the Q&A and an assessor who audits the company against their answers. They may have some remediation items and we may require them to update their remediation plan, she continues. Then they get the gold shield which is really an indication to content providers that the vendor is someone they should come and look at.
Our companies are struggling, and we need to find ways to help them, continues Davies. We understand that money is difficult at the moment but any company can come and sign up on our platform, TPN Plus, create an account, create their profile, answer the TPN questionnaire, which we give a Blue Shield for, see where they're compliant with the best practices and they don't have to pay us a penny.
Looking ahead, education and training will be a big focus for TPN in 2025 and even possible expansion into the music industry. We're seeing a lot of crossover with vendors in the gaming business and the music business, as well as the media, movie and TV business, so I think that's probably a natural extension for us, concludes Davies.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture -Zac Fields, Fox Sports, SVP of Graphic Technology and Integration...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
Trusted Partner Network president Terri Davies talks to TVBEurope about the importance of collaboration and certification in ensuring security in the media industry
