Thales nShield HSMs provide highest levels of trusted content protection and highly scalable online key management for digital film distribution

Plantation, Fla. and IBC Amsterdam – September 16, 2014 – Thales, a world leader in critical information systems and cybersecurity, announces that Qube Cinema, a leading end-to-end digital cinema solution provider, has deployed Thales nShield hardware security modules (HSMs) to protect an easy-to-use digital cinema distribution system. Filmmakers, producers and distributors can now encrypt their digital content and protect their intellectual property while still keeping it easily accessible to authorized users.

In Digital Cinema, movies are encoded and encrypted into a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) and distributed via hard drive or satellite feed, they then can be decrypted at the theatre with information contained in a unique Key Delivery Message (KDM) that unlocks the film for a specific theatre and timeframe. To address the need for efficient security in managing digital cinema keys, Qube used Thales Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) to develop KeySmith – a highly efficient digital cinema key management and distribution system that provides ease of use for distributors while at the same time ensuring high assurance protection of the movie content.

Key facts:

Qube’s KeySmith satisfies the requirements of both content owners and distributors alike. Content owners no longer need to worry about software-based, in-house encryption measures typically used by distributors, or about the worst case scenario – losing the encryption keys and getting locked out of their own content.
Thales HSMs provide the highest grade of protection in the industry for content encryption keys, while simultaneously ensuring that keys are never lost.
For distributors and theater owners, the Qube system provides a level of operational ease that removes any barriers to implementing high security, or temptation to sacrifice security for the sake of convenience.
Rajesh Ramachandran, President and CTO, Qube Cinema, says:
“Piracy is a problem generally associated with digital content and no less so in the film industry where it is an enormous concern for both studios and distributors who lose billions of dollars each year when films are illegally copied and distributed. The encryption and decryption of content is not a major challenge, however the handling and management of security keys by both the cinema and content owners is. Thales is an expert in encryption key management and the protection of content and intellectual property, its products offer high levels of assurance and operational efficiency and have enabled Qube to develop an online digital cinema key management, distribution and reporting system that not only meets real-world requirements, but offers the highest levels of security while retaining flexibility and ease-of-use for our customers.”

Cindy Provin, president, Thales e-Security Inc., says:
“The challenges posed by key management are perceived by many as a major pain point and a barrier to encryption deployment (Ponemon: Global Encryption Trends 2013) and this is especially true for service providers. With more than 40 years’ experience providing key management solutions, we are excited that Qube selected Thales HSMs to address the need for efficient security and key management in distributing digital cinema. Thales HSMs are ideally positioned to help organizations with their crypto security and key management infrastructure in innovative ways by providing the capability, with CodeSafe, for applications to run within a secure environment inside the HSM. Our HSMs ensure integrity and trust but also scalability and resilience. Every day we are seeing pioneering and innovative applications of our technology and Qube Cinema is an excellent example of how Thales is able to solve the key management challenges they require.”

Supporting resources:

Full Case Study: www.thales-esecurity.com/knowledge-base/case-studies/qube-cinema
Visit Qube Cinema at booth #7.F45, IBC, RAI Amsterdam, September 12-16, 2014

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