Digital rights management (DRM) technology is used by over-the-top (OTT) platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime to manage users and restrict access to premium video streams. It aids in the management of piracy. DRM technology encrypts video assets using the AES format, which can only be decrypted using a licence key. A video asset is also broken into blocks, so that only one block can be decrypted at a time, minimising damage in the event of piracy. It is true that the pirates have become more cunning over time. However, despite the best efforts of OTT platforms and content owners, some high-quality HD content is being pirated and illegally accessed by unauthorised users.
Hackers frequently target the digital-to-analog conversion in DRM protected content, particularly on the client device. Encrypted data travels the length of the distribution chain before being decrypted at the end user’s end, creating a potential entry point for unauthorised access. It is shown to the player as an analogue signal. With advanced algorithms, hackers are able to capture the video stream’s individual blocks in their entirety.
Because of the potential revenue losses from their high-end, high-end films, Hollywood studios are extremely concerned about this. Video watermarkinghas been added to the arsenal of security software by the DRM industry in an attempt to close this gap. As technology advances, so do the methods for inserting obscured text or codes into video frames, making them virtually invisible to the naked eye and virtually impossible to detect by recording software.
Forensic watermarking has four components: Each video frame will be encoded with a copyright or ownership message that will be decrypted using a secret watermarking key (a) and the host signal or video frame that will be manipulated (b) d) a video frame with a watermark.
Despite hacker activity such as resolution, transcoding, copying, or distribution distortions, the ownership information should remain stable throughout the entire video frame’s lifecycle when using a fully functional forensic watermark structure. Forensic watermarking is expected by the majority of major Hollywood studios, so their anti-piracy teams can easily discover how and from which users their premium content is pirated, in addition to multi-DRM measures to combat piracy. This has resulted in many multi-DRM SaaS providers converging the multi-DRM video protection function with the forensic-watermarking option to help OTT platforms meet Hollywood studios’ requirements for OTT platforms.
