Why is security a key element in the media and post-production sector?

Are we safe? Why do we need to think about security? Are our contents safe from threats? Alex Mohamed, Technical Manager at Deluxe Spain, tries to answer these and other questions in this Tribune.

The Spanish cinematographic “box office” stands at over 100 million euros (data published by the MECD) in national collection and 96 million in international collection (MECD), the latter 19.5% more than last year.

Pay-per-view services are close to 1.8 billion in 2016 (CNMV) with a projected growth close to 3% until 2020 (according to PwC).

Let's take as reference successes like Tadeo Jones 2 o Setback in cinema, which have been leaders in box office receipts inside and outside our borders. Television projects such as To Fish o Félix of Movistar+, which have had a great international impact, or The Money Heist, which has been at number one in the ranking of the social app TV Time for following series for five weeks, has become a television phenomenon in countries such as France, Brazil and the US.

The entry of new players has caused the fiction of this country to be in full expansion and in the spotlight in the international market, so we must ask ourselves: are we technically prepared to produce audiovisual projects worldwide? And are these projects properly protected to avoid security incidents
unwanted?

The answer to the first question is clearly, yes.

Native workflows in 4k, HDR, IMF or Immersive sound are more than common “topics” these days. The capacity of our infrastructures, but above all of our teams of professionals, ensure success in the management and execution of these projects.

Reflecting on the second question, are our work environments sufficiently protected to keep the more than 2 billion annual revenues projected safe over the next few years?

Here the first doubts already appear. The security requirements on the part of companies within the audiovisual sector in Spain are few and the awareness of having a correct follow-up in the chain of custody of a production is, in many cases, zero, which makes it impossible to efficiently control a product before its release.

A few figures, which will give us more light on the risk we are running because of this.

That companies in our country are in the focus of hackers worldwide is a fact. The number of attacks has increased by 130% in the last 3 years, reaching 123,064 (data INCIBE) in 2017, placing our territory in the top 3 of the most attacked countries in the world, only behind the US and the United Kingdom. Let us also take into account that Spain continues to have 44% (BSA on piracy) of “pirated” software, which makes it easier for the impact of any attack and puts the security at risk.
execution of the work if illegality is discovered.

And if we talk about our sector, the best-known cases of recent years will immediately come to mind. Distribution giants such as Sony and HBO have suffered cyberattacks in which critical data and pre-release content have been stolen from both companies. VOD platforms have been threatened with filtering content they own if they did not agree to pay a financial amount as a ransom, as happened to Netflix when hackers managed to access the networks of Larson Studios, a Post-production studio in Los Angeles, and steal 10 episodes of the 5th season of Orange is the New Black before its broadcast.

The question is obligatory: are we sure that our content is safe from these threats?

Economic impact

What economic impact do these attacks have for our customers and our companies? The cost related to cyber attacks on companies continues to increase and is estimated to reach $150 million in 2020 (report Juniper Research). And that's just the tangible cost.

What would happen if these gaps were related to large VOD platforms or large film studios?

Listed companies that suffer a great economic impact just by seeing their name negatively linked to a security event, we have seen it these days with Facebook and the 100 billion dollars it has lost in market capitalization during the last week due to the case of use of data from its platform without their consent by Cambridge Analitycs.

What should we do?

The importance that Postproduction environments comply with the highest security measures is vital to ensure the success of our projects and that the numbers in our sector continue to grow in the coming years.

Demanding compliance with them, monitoring good practices in this matter from our "vendors" as well as auditing the procedures to verify compliance, is one of the key points to continue generating trust in the industry and maintain the upward curve of our sector.

The objective of security is to prevent, detect and respond to any threat that may affect the complete success of a job.

It is necessary to improve our culture and vision of security and be aware that it is a key element for the execution of our projects.

Deluxe work centers in Spain comply with the highest security standards in our sector and our team is prepared to work on projects that require the strictest security measures. We also advise our clients on the protection of the contents of their end-to-end productions, which undoubtedly generates value and protects the success of all works.