Summary
A leading international broadcasting corporation needed to protect its premium media content from piracy and unauthorized distribution. With contractual obligations requiring stringent security measures to protect content, the broadcaster faced challenges safeguarding digital assets across multiple platforms.
Promon provided a robust application shielding solution that protected the company’s mobile applications from reverse engineering and copying, helping ensure compliance and securing revenue streams. They also introduced an innovative cross-platform code obfuscation solution that helped the broadcast secure content across formats, extending traditional application shielding capabilities to a broader range of content.
Company profile
A global broadcasting and media company delivers content via set-top boxes and digital platforms to millions of customers around the world.
Offering a mix of third-party and original content—including premier films and live sporting events—the broadcaster operates in an industry where content protection is paramount to protecting IP and meeting the terms of distribution agreements. The company faces cybersecurity threats related to piracy and unauthorized distribution, which can significantly impact revenue and contractual agreements.
The challenge
The company’s contracts with film studios and sports organizations mandated the protection of their media content from threats such as reverse engineering and unauthorized copying. While they were working with a security vendor, the vendor wasn’t meeting their needs with innovative solutions or moving at the speed of the entertainment business. The primary challenges included:
- Preventing piracy: Unauthorized copying and distribution of content could lead to significant revenue losses.
- Protecting applications across devices: With content accessible on various devices, they needed a solution that secured their mobile applications and beyond.
- Contractual compliance: Ensuring that all security measures met contractual requirements was essential to maintain partnerships with content providers.
- Customized, speedy responses: In the entertainment world, speed is everything. They needed solutions that offered security without compromising performance as users accessed videos. Given the bespoke nature of their setup, the company also needed access to security experts that could meet their support needs quickly and efficiently.
Existing solutions were inadequate in addressing these specific needs, prompting the broadcasting company to seek a new mobile application security solution.
Promon's solution
Promon delivered an advanced security solution tailored to the company’s requirements. The broadcaster leveraged Promon’s full suite of solutions, including Promon SHIELDTM, for securing content. In addition, Promon developed a cross-platform that offered protect native and protect Java capabilities that allowed them to implement SDK protections. Key components of the solution included:
- Code obfuscation and anti-reverse engineering: The broadcasting company implemented Promon solutions built on application shielding techniques to obscure the application's code, making it difficult for attackers to understand and manipulate the code. As a result, they reduced the risk of hackers reverse engineering the app to access or copy protected content.
- Runtime application self-protection (RASP): To defend against constant potential threats, RASP protection allows the application to detect and prevent malicious activities in real-time, such as tampering or debugging attempts. The self-supporting capabilities in app's ability to protect itself without the need for external intervention.
- SDK Protection: This solution embeds code obfuscation and runtime protections directly into compiled code, effectively guarding SDKs and their host apps against reverse engineering, tampering, and unauthorized access.
Results
By integrating Promon's security solution, the broadcaster achieved:
- Enhanced content protection: The broadcaster strengthened defenses against piracy and unauthorized distribution, securing their digital media content across all platforms.
- Compliance with contracts: They met contractual obligations regarding content protection, maintaining and reinforcing strong relationships with studios and sports organizations.
- Improved revenue security: The company effectively reduced the financial impact of piracy, safeguarding revenue streams associated with premium content.
- Positive working relationship: The client Promon's responsive support and the effectiveness of the solution, leading to increased trust and collaboration. During solution implementation or combating ongoing threats, the client has real-time access to a team of security experts who work to quickly, efficiently meet their needs in a fast-moving, complex cybersecurity environment.