AMSTERDAM & BEIJING & OTTAWA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In 2010 Avatar claimed the position as the most pirated film in history, racking up almost a million illegal downloads in the first week of its release. A new study endorsed by the Motion Picture Association and NBC found that piracy accounts for over 24 percent of total traffic on the Web. As studios face increasing pressure to put premium content online, piracy’s effect on the entertainment industry’s bottom line is undeniable. In fact, some entertainment industry leaders call online piracy “the most threatening issue that has hit our industry in its entire history.”
Addressing this urgent need to protect high-value entertainment assets from online piracy, today global software security and media technology company Irdeto launched ActiveCloak for Media, the first and only dynamic security solution to protect and monetize high-value digital entertainment assets throughout their entire lifecycle and across a wide range of consumer devices. Consumers desire the latest movies, shows and programming anywhere, anytime and on any device – a significant opportunity for the entertainment industry, but one which presents numerous challenges for service providers and device manufacturers.
“Premium content is the lifeblood of the entertainment industry, and DRM alone cannot protect critical digital assets from the persistent attacks of today’s savvy hackers. Whether you create the content or distribute it, it must be protected from every angle,” said Graham Kill, CEO of Irdeto. “With ActiveCloak for Media, Irdeto will enable content providers to take advantage of these exploding market opportunities and monetize their content without jeopardizing content owner relationships and having to compromise their digital media business models.”
While DRM systems use encryption and rights expressions to ensure that digital entertainment is used appropriately, the DRM itself is often a target for attack. Once the DRM is circumvented, the digital content is free for unauthorized copying and use. Even when implemented using modern device-specific hardware security, DRM solutions are not able to withstand and recover from the attacks currently faced on today’s increasingly open platforms.
ActiveCloak for Media elevates basic DRM platforms to take application protection to a new level with integrated renewability, diverse security and piracy monitoring for a wide range of popular content distribution platforms – including tablets, smartphones, iPads, PCs, connected TVs, game consoles and hybrid STBs.
At its core, the system leverages lifecycle security services to continuously monitor and manage potential threats throughout a piece of content’s entire economic lifetime: smart client device agents proactively protect embedded or downloadable media applications from attack, and a security server monitors the agents’ integrity and provides them with security updates. With ActiveCloak for Media, security mechanisms are reconfigured and automatically renewed to prevent loss of platform integrity over time, minimizing the risk that revenue will be lost, content licenses will be withdrawn or that the service provider’s reputation will be damaged.
Irdeto’s Cloakware technology is already present in marquee solutions from Netflix, Adobe, Sony, Logitech and Comcast, and is a critical part of the Boxee Box by D-Link. Early ActiveCloak for Media customers include major global cable operators and several OTT service providers. The solution will initially address the secure playback of recorded content from a PVR to a PC and the secure streaming of VOD content from the Internet to STBs or iOS and Android devices. In addition to expanding support to other popular media platforms in the near future, Irdeto also plans to extend ActiveCloak to protect eBooks, apps and games.
“As the value of premium video becomes more important to both consumers and service providers who want to display this content on multiple ‘smart devices’ in current and future digital homes, so too the CAS/DRM technology must become more robust as content is handed off from one device to another,” stated Gary Schultz, President and Founder, Multimedia Research Group. “ActiveCloak for Media is a solution addressing these heightened security issues that have and will prevail as multi-display of premium video becomes the norm in our digital homes."
About Irdeto
Irdeto is the most innovative software security and media technology company in the world. Through its dynamic security and monetization technologies, the company allows new forms of distribution for broadcast/broadband/mobile entertainment, and for the world’s most popular app, eStores and consumer devices. Co-headquartered in Amsterdam and Beijing, Irdeto employs 1000 people in 25 locations around the world. It is a subsidiary of multinational media group Naspers (JSE: NPN). Please visit Irdeto at www.irdeto.com.