Encrypted Video
But there are situations where an organization might not want a video to be accessible to the masses. Consider the example of a military installation or government facility. A video might contain sensitive or classified information that is only intended to be viewed by authorized personnel. In these types of environments, it’s essential to create secure video that is only available for streaming or viewing by certain individuals. That’s where video encryption comes into play.
What Is Video Encryption?
Video encryption is a method of “hiding” a particular video from individuals who shouldn’t be seeing it. Encryption is sometimes confused with protection, but they are two different concepts. Protection refers to the use of codecs, passwords, container formats and similar methods to prevent access to a video. Encryption involves the manipulation or masking of video data to make it unintelligible to unauthorized viewers.
Types of Video Encryption
Video encryption can be broken down into two types: personal and Digital Rights Movement (DRM). Personal encryption refers to a video that should be shared with specific individuals, but made inaccessible to unauthorized users. DRM serves the same purpose, while adding more layers of complexity. DRM enables encryption of quantitative and qualitative video streams, region-specific video, device and software-specific video, and adaptive streaming.
Video Encryption Standards
To ensure the effectiveness and reliability of video encryption techniques, multiple standards have been developed. The most popular is the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The AES encryption algorithm is a symmetric block cypher that was originally created in 1997 as a means of safeguarding sensitive government information.
In 2003, the federal government approved the use of AES encryption for classified documentation and top-secret information as well. AES encryption is known for its ease of implementation with hardware and software and in restricted environments. In addition to its many government applications, AES is now widely used in the private sector as well.
Video Encryption Solutions From Z-Band
Z-Band offers a variety of encoding appliances that provide video compression and encryption to meet the AES requirements. All models support HDMI, HD/SDI and Composite inputs and can be integrated with the ZIP portal software system. Get the benefit of an encrypted video solution that is capable of H264 encoding and streaming. AES encryption is also a key feature included with our IPTV and video distribution systems.
Our encrypted video solutions are not limited to military and government installations. The healthcare industry can also benefit from AES encryption. While the HIPAA Security Rule doesn’t apply to live videoconferencing or other types of video sessions, it does apply to recordings of these sessions while stored or “at rest.” Therefore, the use of encrypted videoconferencing software is strongly recommended as a means of ensuring patient privacy.
Contact Z-Band to Learn More About Video Encryption in Your Organization
Z-Band is a leading provider of innovative video distribution solutions for the government and military, healthcare, hospitality, education, corporate, and international markets. Contact us today for more information about our video encryption solutions and how they can benefit your organization. We can also arrange a no-obligation on-site product demonstration at your convenience.