CDSA

The spring/summer edition of the “M&E Journal,” published by MESA and geared toward senior media and entertainment executives who oversee their companies’ digital futures, is now available online.

The 170-page publication features insights from nearly four dozen MESA members, from ATMECS to Xcapism Learning, with the issue’s main focus centered on how productions have evolved due to the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Along with the cover section — “It’s Showtime!” — the issue offers industry insights for several crucial industry areas, including “Diversity & Inclusion,” “New Workflows,” “Smart Content” and “Security.” Additionally, the “M&E Journal” also features columns from MESA’s executive leadership.

Here’s a quick look at what’s included in the “Security” section:

• “Securing Remote Productions” by Convergent Risks’ Chris Johnson and Mathew Gilliat-Smith. As the industry responds with flare and innovation to support remote productions through cloud technology, many of the same principles apply when it comes to security. Managing what happens on set remotely, testing correct configurations, and securing wireless connections are all critical areas. This article discusses key priorities and the different approaches that can be adopted.

• “Cyber Warfare: Addressing a Very Real Threat to the M&E Industry” by INTRUSION’s Gary Davis. Recent cyberattacks have proven we’re no longer fighting just hackers: nation states have waged cyber warfare on our economy, and no industry is safe. Cybercriminals can live in the networks of media and entertainment companies for months, learning their most valuable assets and ways to disrupt business. We need a new approach to cybersecurity.

• “M&E Industry Call to Action: Your Most Valuable Asset is Under Siege” by NAGRA’s Tim Pearson. Here we offer our insights on the current state of piracy, the pandemic’s impact on the media and entertainment industry and consumer behavior, address the increase in piracy in online screening for virtual cinema and early release windows, and examine how the industry is working to address all of these challenges.

• “Next Generation Content Protection: Moving Beyond IP for Location Verification” by GeoGuard’s James Clark. Faced with ever-evolving techniques to spoof an IP address, moving beyond IP for viewer location verification is becoming increasingly important for protecting geographically restricted content, especially when it comes to high-value content. Location signals from Wi-Fi, GPS, and HTML5 can now be used to stop geo-piracy and geolocation fraud.

• “Content Security in the World of Independent Film” by Film Festival Flix’s Amber Davis Johnson. The key to maintaining content security when delivering to a streaming platform lies in platform hosts educating and empowering content suppliers. And we offer an anecdotal, cautionary tale of a festival programmer who shared her account password, putting the power of sabotage in the hands of hundreds.

• “Protecting Digital Revenue with Distributor Watermarking” by Irdeto’s Miguel Bielich. The increased ease of access to content across platforms, combined with day-and-date releases of new releases in theaters and via premium VOD services, has content pirates chomping at the bit.

• “Balancing Between Fan Engagement and Piracy on Social Media” by Videocites’ James Maysonet. The unauthorized use of IP in the form of clips, highlights, and GIFs are pervasive across social media. But is it piracy, or an opportunity to measure the marketing value, and an opportunity to monetize? It’s a delicate dance between marketing teams and IP enforcement teams, on what is marketing and what’s infringement. These shifting interpretations create losses as a result of a bureaucratic process that create delays in decisions, losing out either in marketing revenue or potential lost subscribers and sponsorship.

• “How Fun and Games Can Reduce Your Cyber Risk” by Xcapism Learning’s Meera Mehta. Traditional methods of cybersecurity training don’t work well, mostly because they’re boring. Your team will retain more cyber awareness over the long term if they have fun in the process.

Beginning Monday, June 7, look for stories from the winter edition of the “M&E Journal” every week in the “M&E Daily” newsletter.