CDSA

Convergent Risks was asked to create a series of guidelines to help in the creation of a talent registry using security best practices, according to Mathew Gilliat-Smith, EVP at Convergent Risks.

It is still in the “early stages,” but it “certainly looks like a good initiative” that “will enable people to create awareness for security and to sort of achieve a minimum standard,” he said Feb. 25 during the WFH/Remote breakout session “Developing Security Best Practices for Localisation Talent” at the Content Workflow Management Forum.

It will also “give the vendors and content owners a better sense of confidence… in terms of peoples’ appreciation of security,” he said.

The “core concept of this is to have 30 key questions, which cover the basics” when it comes to security while working in the media and entertainment industry, he noted.

The target audience are “hundreds of freelancers around the world” and “contracted personnel, particularly working in a remote environment,” as well as organisations managing third-party personnel working in a remote environment, he said.

There is, after all, a “concern that, unless there has been some sort of security vetting, perhaps things aren’t as strong or as robust as they should be,” he explained.

The roadmap is to come up with best practice statements and awareness and implementation guidance during the first quarter of this year. That is to be followed by a validation  of it, he noted.

Then, possibly in the second quarter or probably the third quarter, there will be a beta launch of the ABCA registry platform, which “will be a portal where talent can register” and “vendors can also see who’s registered,” he said.

This “should make the whole process a lot easier,” he said. Now, vendors do their own checks for freelancers, he noted.

The types of remote working to be covered will include non-local (cloud-based applications and environments, Virtual Private Networks and virtual desktop infrastructure) and local (for content hosted in a physical environment), with the point being to make sure each environment has the right guidelines to follow, he pointed out.

“The whole idea really is just to improve security awareness and to make sure the best practices are being followed,” he explained, adding: “It’s all about mitigating risk really and it’s making sure that there isn’t unauthorised access.”

Localisation use cases for remote environments include: translation (transcript, proofreading, quality control, dubbing script), subtitling (closed captioning, subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, text and metadata), dubbing (ADR) and graphics (titles and end cards).

And targeted areas of focus include: talent management, security awareness, policy and process, environment management, media asset management, information technology asset management, account management and authorisation, device security, application and software security, and digital asset management.

The 30 key questions will be partially based on Motion Picture Association best practices and also industry working practices that the localisation vendors use, Gilliat-Smith said.

The self-attesting process used should be something that “freelancers will feel comfortable doing” and “won’t be cumbersome,” he said, adding it will be something they do only once.

It “should be pretty easy to do,” not costly, and “I think it’s going to be welcomed all the way around,” and comments, questions and input are all welcome, he concluded.

Click here to access video of the presentation. Click here to download the presentation slide deck.

The Content Workflow Management Forum was produced by MESA, the Audio Business Continuity Alliance, Content Localisation Council, Smart Content Council, and the Hollywood IT Society, with sponsorship by Iyuno Media Group, Richey May Technology Solutions, Whip Media Group, Deluxe, Digital Nirvana, Meta, Vubiquity, EIDR, Keywords Studios, Los Angeles Duplication & Broadcasting, Nexus TV, OOONA, Signiant and Titles-On.