JJ Landauer, information security analyst for SHIFT and Screeners.com, looks at his company in a unique way.
“We’re a security company that makes software,” he said May 12, speaking at the Cybersecurity & Content Protection Summit (CCPS), being held digitally as part of the NAB Show Express experience. “Our primary concerns are perimeter security, uptime, and ease-of-use, not really user activity.”
His presentation — “REDACTED FOR SECURITY AND PRIVACY PURPOSES” — shared how the Screeners.com invitation-only platform (trusted by some of the biggest entertainment companies for sharing pre-release content with reviewers and members of the press) has a different kind of content security idea behind it.
SHIFT uses a reactive position vs. a proactive position as it relates to user activity on the platform, and looks at the risk to content from a different perspective, “using AI and machine learning, because enforcing this manually can get a little messy,” Landauer said.
“We walk a [security] tightrope with our platform,” he added. “We’re operating this invitation-only platform where our screening clients invite people to come to their content. And occasionally, they invite people neither of us may actually want on the platform.”
There are malicious users, bad actors, and straight-up imposters looking to access pre-release content, and monetize it for their own gain. And often it becomes a revolving door: content pirates are discovered, removed, and then come back for another try later, Landauer said.
So this past year, SHIFT looked at around 2,000 of the logged-in users on Screeners.com, and turned around and delivered more than 200 reports on risks to their content. That resulted in the use of new tools to verify users, including using online social media tools to compare names of users, and security tools to get more information on suspicious domains.
That has resulted in quick turnaround in both identifying and removing content pirates, almost automatically … and even before they’ve attempted to access content.
“[Attempts] are stopped because of open communication in this industry, and intelligent [tools,” Landauer said.
Presented by Richey May Technology Solutions, with sponsorship by Akamai, Cyberhaven, Microsoft Azure, SHIFT, Convergent Risks, and the Trusted Partner Network (TPN), the Cybersecurity & Content Protection Summit focused on the latest cybersecurity and content protection challenges studios, broadcasters and vendors alike are facing during the ongoing pandemic.
Produced under the direction of the Content Delivery & Security Association (CDSA) Board of Directors and content advisors representing Amazon Studios, Adobe, Paramount, BBC Studios, NBCUniversal, Lionsgate, WarnerMedia, Amblin Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, and Lego Group, this year’s Cybersecurity & Content Protection Summit looked ahead at the challenges facing the security community in 2020 and beyond.
To view video of the presentation, click here.