secure live streaming with SSL

"SSL" and "video streaming" are both well-known terms but are seldom talked about together.

So, how does SSL comes into play in the vast world of video streaming?

Well, that is exactly what we are going to talk about today!

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate is an internet security protocol that helps ensure that content being shared between the browser and website is secured from cyber-attacks.

Security from cyber-attacks is surely a need of the hour.

Here are some cyber security statistics that show us why:

600% uptick in cybercrime during the time of the pandemic
$6 trillion is the approximate cost of a ransomware attack in 2021
Every 11 seconds, a new organization faces a ransomware attack

Video streaming also requires SSL protection as it is also vulnerable to such cyber-attacks similar to any other content being transmitted over the public internet.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Let's first talk about the difference between HTTP and HTTPS, how it links to SSL, and how it helps protect your content.

Difference Between HTTP and HTTPS

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the most widely used protocol that enables you to view web pages. Simply put, it supports data exchange over the internet.

However, the public internet is definitely not secure. Hence, transmitting sensitive information like your name, credit card information, or valuable financial information of your business can put your data at high risk for hacking.

Hence, HTTPS (Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol) was created to encrypt your data transferred over the internet. This is where SSL comes in. It is an encryption-based internet security protocol used by HTTP to transmit your data securely.

Difference between HTTP and HTTPS

What is an SSL Certificate?

Netscape developed the Security Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol in 1995. SSL certificate authenticates and ensures the privacy of your HTTPS website when you are opening it.

SSL secures your data using public-key encryption. SSL and TLS (Transport Layer Security) are often confused with each other. TLS is actually the updated version of SSL. There were some critical security problems within SSL.

Hence, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) improved the protocol in 1999 to overcome these concerns. Currently, TLS V1.2 and V1.3 are the most widely used and accepted versions.

However, SSL is still a widely used name for it. We will refer to it as SSL/TLS from now onwards to avoid any confusion.

Why is SSL/TLS Important?

Here are the three key things that SSL/TLS does to ensure security:

SSL encrypts the plain text that HTTP transmits over the internet by scrambling and making it undecipherable so that even if a hacker gets their hands on the data, they won’t be able to make sense of it.
SSL ensures the authenticity of both your browser and the website by initiating an SSL/TLS handshake to verify the identity of both the communicating parties.
SSL certifies the integrity of your data (the video is really what you intend to transmit) by doing a hash check to ensure that it hasn’t been tampered with.

Putting aside all these crucial things that SSL ensures, it is also important to understand that most browsers like Google Chrome flags HTTP websites as “not secure” and advises viewers against accessing them.

Furthermore, websites without SSL certificates also suffer in terms of search engine ranking and website traffic.

Video Streaming with SSL protection

From online meetings and virtual conferences to marketing content and sales calls, video is everywhere.

There is a lot of important confidential, sensitive, or personally identifiable information within most of these videos, making it an urgent need for your organization to protect them from malicious attacks.

You must opt for a secure video streaming solution that uses the SSL/TLS protocol to ensure content encryption while your videos are in transit via HTTPS.

VIDIZMO is an enterprise video platform that provides ultimate security, including SSL/TLS encryption for content transmission to ensure ultimate content protection during transit and to avoid attacks, such as “man in the middle”.

While streaming your video on VIDIZMO, your content is encrypted using SSL (TLS 1.2 and 1.3) and transported via HTTPS protocol during the video uploading and video delivery stages.

This is done on top of the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) that helps you establish a secure connection via SSL/TLS handshake. SSL/TLS handshake authenticates the identity of both the web server and the client device by verifying their SSL/TLS certification.

US Department of State

The US Department of State Uses VIDIZMO to Securely Stream Live Video Internally – Read More on This Story

Not Just SSL, Benefit From Complete Content Protection

VIDIZMO provides powerful content protection by providing complete end-to-end encryption using FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptographic modules applied during the stages of uploading, at rest and video delivery.

VIDIZMO FIPS 140-2

On top of using TLS/SSL encryption during the video uploading and video delivery stage, VIDIZMO also double encrypts your streamed video at rest:

AES 256 encryption applied by the data centers
AES 128 encryption applied by VIDIZMO, which ensures that only authorized individuals can decrypt your video through the VIDIZMO video player
All encryption keys are also encrypted using other set of Key Encryption Keys (KEK)

Once the video is securely delivered to the VIDIZMO player, AES 256 and AES 128 decryption is performed by the VIDIZMO video player for secure playback of your video content.

VIDIZMO Supports End-to-End Video Content Management

VIDIZMO does more than just providing secure SSL-protected video streaming.

It is an end-to-end brandable enterprise video content management system for live and on-demand videos. You can store, stream, search, analyze and share your videos in a secure and compliant environment.

In terms of security, you can also benefit from SSO integration, DRM support, audit logs, access controls, and much more. Assign user roles with pre-defined permissions to control what actions users can and cannot perform. Learn more about VIDIZMO secure video hosting platform.

You can also create user groups to segregate content or take advantage of VIDIZMO’s multi-tenant design to create multiple autonomous video portals with entirely separate billing, security, and administrative policies.