Video content is estimated to make up 80% of the world’s Internet traffic by 2021. With the rising use of smartphones and the availability of the Internet, people prefer watching videos to taking a couple of minutes to read the same information. The visual appeal and interactive element of videos also contribute to this. Using videos is proving to be a powerful and effective part of the marketing strategy now more than ever.
The extensive use of videos in content marketing has given rise to growing challenges for data security and protection, including protection from illegal access, unauthorized processing, secure authentication, compliance with regulations, etc.
The most significant aspect of online video websites is security. There are several reasons for online video solutions to concentrate hard on security, including the following.
- Most video websites have original content that must be protected.
- Enterprise videos might contain sensitive data that might be illegally accessed by unauthorized people.
To secure your online video platform, different aspects have to be checked for weak links to offer a safe viewing experience to your users.
Here are some of the important features of a secure online video platform:
Password protection
Even though the basic level of security is the password, it is one of the most elementary safety features of a video platform. It allows you to secure your videos with a password and allow access only to users with a password. However, it is recommended to use strong passwords that cannot be easily guessed, as passwords are mostly aimed at the majority of cybersecurity attacks. If you are planning to build a live-streaming website, this is one type of protection that has to be implemented mandatorily.
Geographic and domain restriction
Geographic and domain restrictions help you to secure your video content by adding an additional layer of security. The first type restrains the website domains on which your content can be played. When establishing this feature, you can specify the site on which you want to enable your videos to play. Once implemented, no other websites can embed your videos.
The second type of restriction is a geographic restriction that leverages IP addresses to add certain countries to the whitelist.
Similar to domain restriction, you can select the countries you want. Users living in other countries than the specified ones won’t be able to access your videos. Both of these restrictions offer an extra layer of security for your online video content.
Referrer restrictions
As the name suggests, these types of restrictions are the same as that domain restrictions. The only difference is, instead of addresses it works on the basis of “referrers”. The HTTP referrer is nothing but a part of metadata sent to a site required that identifies a page that links to the content being requested.
With this type of feature, you can create both whitelists and blacklists and add the websites accordingly. You can add the sites that are authorized to share your content to the whitelist and the pirated websites to the blacklist. Referral restrictions make another important security layer in an online video solution.
Copyright control
When you share your videos on social platforms like YouTube or Facebook, it becomes easy for anyone to copy and use your content illegally. If you are using live streaming software to build your online video platform, choose a fully secure streaming solution that ensures the copyright remains yours. By using professional-grade software, you make it tougher for pirates to copy your video content using free download tools.
Paywall protection
Most video platforms prefer to monetize their content in some or the other way. It can be advertising methods, subscriptions, or can be other forms of monetization as well. If you are planning to monetize your videos, implementing payment security is critical. Paywall protection allows only authorized users to gain access to the content contrary to being open to all users like in open video websites like YouTube.
Advanced encryption standard
Advanced encryption standard is a universal standard deployed by the U.S. government to secure classified information by encrypting sensitive data. Broadcasters can use AES video encryption in their online video platform for security purposes. Once the video is encrypted, unique key disorders the entire content. Viewers who have the right access key can only access the videos. Furthermore, if someone without access tries to decode it, all they will see is a jumbled mess of meaningless data. While the encryption process is invisible, it acts as an important layer of protection against online piracy.
Token authorization system
The online video streaming protocol includes a concept of tokens. Tokens are basically pieces of information that can be utilized to identify who has access to the streams. A token authorization system is a security feature that lets the video platform ensure that videos on the website are being accessed only by people who have the right to access them. This particular safety feature works on the basis of the token system and acts as a protective guard against unauthorized access to the videos hosted on an online video platform.
HTTPS video delivery
HTTPS is a common and universal encrypted web communication standard used by the website to keep data private. HTTPS delivery leverages encryption and validation to protect against malicious attacks. This protocol offers security in different ways. First, it prevents tampering during transit. Second, it offers authentication and finally, it offers protection from being accessed by unauthorized parties.
SSL Encryption for secure financial transactions
SSL is a standard protection for sensitive data on any website. When installed on a web server, it displays the padlock and the protocol enables secure connections to web browsers. Typically, SSL certificates are used to secure data transfer, logins, and credit card transactions and are becoming a common requirement when securing platforms involving financial transactions. If you are looking for different ways how to start a live-streaming website, ensure that your website is protected with SSL certificates.
Conclusion
If multimedia content is a big part of your business, the risks can be great when self-hosting your video content. Hosting videos on online platforms requires a range of safety features designed to secure your content and your user’s private data. If you are looking for how to create a live video streaming website, it is mandatory to choose video management software that comes with built-in security features that limit access to unauthorized visitors to your online video platform.
