broadcast technology trends and insights 2015
The future of revenue security for UHD
The ultra HD ( UHD ) era is already under way after the start of trial deployments in South Korea and Japan during 2014 . While full-blown commercial UHD services are not expected until 2016 , the falling price of UHD-capable TVs and deployment of the latest HEVC codec , along with accelerated pace of software based encoding renewal , are all driving the field forward .
This is adding a major new dimension to revenue security and the fight against piracy , changing the threat model considerably . Because it is of much higher quality , UHD content offers greater scope for pirates to copy . This threat is being amplified by the parallel rise of over-the-top ( OTT ) video , turning redistribution into the biggest threat to premium content revenues , taking over from control word sharing .
Fortunately , the security challenges posed by UHD have been quite widely recognised , at least among content producers . This was reflected in a pivotal moment in September 2013 when MovieLabs , representing major Hollywood studios , announced a new set of security guidelines specifically for UHD content for its members on distribution of premium content over the Internet .
Essentially , these guidelines translate into three pillars of UHD content security — namely , hardware-based security , trusted software security and forensic watermarking — which reinforce each other and when combined provide a strong security platform for UHD content , whether live or on-demand and however it is delivered .
THE THREE PILLARS It is very important to appreciate that each of these three pillars on its own cannot solve the problem , but when interlocked with each other , they present a formidable barrier to piracy .
The first pillar includes hardware functions and subsystems on system-on-chip ( SoC ) that can be programmed or configured and then provided with secret key material at time of manufacture . This combination of hardware and secret keys in the first pillar provides a mechanism to underpin device authentication , revocation and trusted renewability of the software logic — the second pillar — that leverages this hardware . This provides a hardware root of trust underpinning softwarebased , or cardless , security systems .
The second software pillar then must make sure this root of trust cannot be attacked by attempts to obtain secret information during execution in the trusted environment — the protection of the client logic can be augmented using other hardening techniques such as code obfuscation , which essentially make software additionally difficult to reverse engineer .
Thereafter the third pillar , watermarking , depends on both the other pillars for the trusted insertion of unique identifiers into payloads , so potential hackers cannot readily determine what the identifiers are in an attempt to undo the watermarking . Yet , if somebody who is or pretends to be a legitimate subscriber effectively bypasses pillars one and two through content redistribution , watermarking is still there and able to pinpoint the source quickly .
These translate into a greater emphasis than before on identification of leakages where such action is warranted
— analysing redistribution over IP networks and shutting down infringing sources of pirated content as quickly as possible .
SECURITY REMAINS MAJOR CHALLENGE There has been big growth in “ IP-sourced ” piracy , which will be stimulated further by the advent of UHD . Pirates have increasingly been sourcing their streams from official IP services rather than from set-up boxes ( STBs ), posing as legitimate subscribers without necessarily subverting security at all .
Furthermore , people are not just watching OTT content on computers , so pirates are now targeting smartphones , tablets , IP STB boxes such as Roku and even smart TVs . UHD will just amplify these threats to both live and on-demand streams .
VERIMATRIX PERFECT PARTNER FOR UHD DEPLOYMENT Verimatrix has developed VCAS Ultra to enable the transition to full IP and software-based video delivery while addressing the commercial opportunity for UHD video services . Although VCAS Ultra is a next-generation solution meeting the needs of the modern software-empowered video operator and migration
Verimatrix has developed VCAS Ultra to enable the transition to full IP and software-based video delivery while addressing the commercial opportunity for UHD video services .
Petr Peterka
Chief Technology Officer Verimatrix
towards UHD over all IP networks , it has proven pedigree , having been derived from 15 years of expertise in developing , refining and supporting softwarebased security systems for premium service delivery .
With VCAS Ultra , Verimatrix has created a coordinated platform for secure chainof-custody across the UHD ecosystem , combining our VideoMark watermarking as the main new component with hardware security for protection of secret information and hardened software for execution of sensitive components . The technology comprising hardware-based VideoMark watermark insertion ensures full MovieLabs compliance , with encryption , authentication and device revocation to establish secure end-to-end chains of custody .
A major part of our proposition is the partnerships that enable us to deliver the whole secure ecosystem . Two key partners are Broadcom and Marvell , who provide the integrated hardware / software cores for the secure cryptographic processing and hardware support for watermarking payload insertion . Through our very secure approach to insertion of marks , we can defend against the attacks that have compromised some other watermarking systems .
Download the white paper for more information at www . verimatrix . com / UHDsecurity
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