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What Security Measures Are There for Streaming Platforms?

As people are spending more and more time online, it’s little surprise that providers and services are doing everything in their power to make sure things are safe. Everywhere from Netflix to Zoom has undergone some form of increased security measures – here’s what some of those are.

When it comes to adding security measures for online services, it principally makes sense that video conferencing has been one of the major exponents when adding a plethora of measures in order to keep communication encrypted and safe. With Zoom, for instance, there’s AES-256 encryption that also works end-to-end. What this basically means is that, in a similar vein to WhatsApp, a piece of data such as a message that is sent on one device can only be decrypted by the device that it was intended to be received by. As a result, this has become the essential security standard for messaging services and video conferencing alike.

AES-256 encryption, as said before, has also been introduced to Zoom, providing the service with a practically unbreakable combination. It has a key length of 256 bits, meaning that it is basically impenetrable to any brute force methods that may be used to access passwords. Possible combinations can grow exponentially as the number of bits rises with it, leaving AES-256 encryption with 1.1 x 1077 possible options. Fundamentally, the inclusions of end-to-end and AES-256 encryption within the likes of Zoom and WhatsApp, and other messaging/conferencing platforms, means that they should be impenetrable; helping to keep users’ data and information safe.

On more stereotypical streaming platforms such as Netflix, there are also a whole host of security features that aim to keep people’s information safe and secure. Whilst the usual advice from other sites about making a password unique is also advocated by Netflix – they are the same firm who have allowed their users to share their password around between friends. However, this is an issue that they are cracking down on thanks to a feature that forces users to pass a test to verify ownership of the account. If they can’t complete the test within a given timeframe, that account won’t be able to stream any content, and they’ll instead be asked to make their own account to then stream the shows they want to watch.

The basic idea here is that, if those users who have had a password shared with them can’t answer a question or input a security code, then they won’t be able to act as free riders in the future. The counter to this is that, as password sharing is inevitable with those in a household, or if people have friends around for instance, then there is little point in even attempting to crack down on an issue that has become commonplace.

It’s almost like stopping two friends sharing the same pair of headphones as, in that scenario, half of the headphones are being used by the account owner and half by a free-rider. This is referred to in economics as the free-rider problem, or in short, the idea that there are people who benefit from a particular act or service – listening to music or watching shows in this instance – without ever paying into any associated system. By cracking down on password sharing, Netflix are trying their best to love the free-rider problem and, in a perhaps rather convoluted way, look to keep their platform safer for subscribers.

When it comes to other streaming services, such as those based on the online-only model – for example, online casinos, such practices also have stringent security measures in place. Principally, the likes of a Japanese live casino and similar sites are all regulated when it comes to the payment methods that can be used on such sites. As well as the traditional encryption in place, that ensures that any personal data, such as credit card information, doesn’t get in the hands of the wrong people, some providers also offer the option to pay using eWallet services such as PayPal and even cryptocurrency.

Using eWallets like Paypal as an example, they also have their own security measures such as two-factor authentication to make sure those using the account are the owners, as well as having other such measures in place to protect users from fraud and to encrypt every single transaction. This is in a similar vein to video conferencing or messaging services that keep all personal information in a secure tunnel to ensure that everything private remains so.

Regardless of what the actual service is, be it online casinos, video-on-demand services, or video conferencing, each of them has its own respective measures designed to keep people both safe and in-check. This has the effect of increasing peoples’ overall confidence in a service as well as bolstering the reputation of a solid, trustworthy company.

 

Staff Writer at CPO Magazine