By: Paul O’Donovan, Head of Market Development
During a recent conference of the Financial Times, Tom Burrows, head of Global Rights at DAZN, shared the following:
His comment refers to the explosive growth of piracy as a consequence of the rapid shift of premium content, particularly sports, to streaming. The shift to streaming is rapid and will continue to accelerate. Recently, NBC shared that during the Paris Olympics they streamed a total of 391 million hours of content, which was up 40% from all the previous Olympic Summer and Winter events combined.
The popularity of streaming has brought on a myriad of new threats, from straightforward URL sharing to sophisticated license decryption and network vulnerabilities. Below, I explore some of the key security challenges in modern streaming and how MediaKind’s MK.IO Platform’s robust, integrated approach overcomes them.
One of the first lines of defence is digital rights management (DRM). Different devices use different DRM technologies. Some are notoriously easier to hack than others and pirates exploit those weaker ones with open-source tools to extract decryption keys.
To overcome this challenge MK.IO uses a range of “Hollywood-approved” DRM solutions for the ladder of streams prioritizing the popular and higher quality streams, and in addition also encrypts the entire license flow, adding another layer of security to the process.
However, encrypting the content isn’t nearly enough. Attackers can capture a valid playback URL from developer tools and share it widely. That’s where entitlement checks come in.
Utilizing token-based authentication at multiple checkpoints significantly improves the prevention of unauthorized playback. MK.IO deploys this model at multiple checkpoints:
Another area of focus is the access layer itself. MK.IO utilizes a highly scalable protection layer that scrutinizes incoming requests for anomalies, like multiple concurrent logins or unexpectedly high request rates.
When pirates share tokens or license keys at scale, the system identifies the behavior and blocks the requests, preventing large-scale theft.
The entitlement security, multi-DRM, token authentication, and access layer security mechanism are all powered by a highly scalable cloud-based and multi-CDN architecture.
During peak sporting events, millions of users log in within minutes. MK.IO has been designed and deployed to ensure delivery of millions of streams while enforcing high level security measures that do not impair the user experience.
In summary, the MK.IO integrated approach doesn’t just protect content—it safeguards the brand’s reputation, keeps viewers satisfied, and maintains the trust that is critical for a thriving streaming business in today’s rapidly evolving market.
