Secure video streaming in online courses – A guidebook

Cyberattacks have and will be one of the most dangerous forms of attacks on people. With almost every information available on the internet today, people are more vulnerable than ever before. To make matters worse, more and more people are becoming technologically adept and pushing their content in the online space. Even a field like education is not spared. Passionate teachers are embracing the latest technologies and publishing their content on various platforms. But cybersecurity is posing a hindrance to their passion. Their content is being regularly plagiarized, stolen, and republished on various platforms much to their dismay. 

Many educators falsely believe that if they post video content, they are immune to cyberattacks. But this is far from the truth. This post shows what the reality is and what are the various steps that you can take to do secure video streaming and make your video course protected from potential thievery. 

What does security mean for streaming a video?

Most of us know and understand the basic concept of video streaming, thanks to constant exposure to video platforms such as YouTube. For the rest, video streaming is simply a form of presenting videos on digital platforms that allow users to both ‘watch’ as well as ‘download’ them. 

Most of these digitals platforms are exposed to security risks. Copying of content, phishing, and platform hacks are some of the common risks that video uploaders in these platforms face. Take the case of Arun, an engineer by profession, who was new to the world of online tutoring. He started his online school last year. He was constantly advised about the myriads of ways in which online content (especially the textual content) can be stolen and plagiarized. So he started focusing on video content instead. He assumed that the video content was completely foolproof and impossible to copy. As a result, he never focused on tightening the security around his video courses. Without taking any precautions, he started creating hundreds of video content and hosted them on his own website. 

But within a couple of months, he was in for a rude shock. He found his content to be copied on various websites and people were promoting it as their own course. To make matters worse, there was no way to prove that the videos were his. Arun did not care to appear physically in any of these videos (only his voice was present). He also did not concentrate on adding brand logos or giving an introduction to the brand in every video. All these turned out to be grave mistakes.

In short, Arun, like many others had fallen for the popular myth – ‘Video streaming is 100% secure’

What’s the reality?

The reality is nowhere close. New hackers are on the constant rise, who are armed with significant innovations in technology. They can easily steal your videos in minutes and publish it on various platforms without risking their identity. By the time you find that your content has been copied, they would have already started targeting another educator publishing their video on another platform! 

Thankfully, certain steps can be taken to safeguard your videos from such hackers.

Steps to Improve Security

Before we look into the steps, remember that an LMS like Learnyst offers enhanced security features that automatically protect your videos from various malicious elements. It minimizes your efforts in planning the security around your course. But if you wish to operate your classes from your own website, then here are some pointers to keep your content secure – 

DRM Encryption

DRM stands for Digital Rights Management. Encryption is the process of encoding information so that only authorized users can access it. DRM is considered one of the finest encryption standards and is capable of preventing most types of attacks. Implementing DRM encryption can help to prevent IPR theft. This enables you to do secure video streaming of your content.

Lock screen recording and screen sharing

Screen capture is a feature commonly available on almost every smartphone. Also, several free apps let you record videos as well. So it is important to lock screen recording and screen sharing of your classes so that your videos are not recorded by anyone, eliminating the possibility of sharing it with others. 

Watermark your videos

There are multiple ways in which you can watermark your videos and protect it from getting copied. One way is to use a video editing tool that can embed your brand’s watermark in every video you create. Online thieves find it difficult to remove the watermark from the videos and hence even if they republish the content, your name and logo will be present in the shared videos. Another option is to watermark the details of the learners into the video whenever they view it.  So even if the learners republish the video, their details will be automatically published along with the video as a watermark, ensuring that they are caught red-handed.

Create Personalized Courses

Study the mindset of your learners and create personalized video courses based on their interests. This makes copying videos very difficult as ultimately it can be used only for a selected audience. Issue your brands’ certificates to the participants at the end of the course and ensure that it is assigned to a learner only if he/she completes the course. This reduces the value of the course outside your classes as the person who stole your content might not be able to offer the same certificate of your brand.

Adopt CDN

Content Delivery Network (CDN) is typically a distributed collection of servers that works in tandem to provide fast delivery of online content. With the mounting demand for online media(especially video), CDN providers have started offering advanced solutions that not only offer a seamless experience to the end-user but also protect the content from malicious attacks. 

Keep your courses private

This is a no-brainer – The more the number of people who can access your videos, the higher the chances of it getting attacked. Keep your courses private, allowing only those who have paid for it to access them. Protect the courses behind a username and password. 

How Learnyst can protect your videos?

The aforementioned are some of the techniques that you can follow to keep your video content secure. Alternatively, you can opt for Learnyst which lets you store recorded videos securely and even take live classes without compromising on the safety aspect.

Learnyst offers courses on both web and application modes and has ensured that video streaming is completely secured in both these channels. Here is a table depicting the various security features available for recorded and live videos – 

• DRM Encryption: All your recorded videos are DRM encrypted which guarantees a premium level of safety and security.
• Screen Capturing and Screen Sharing restriction: Every recorded video that you upload in Learnyst can be prevented from screen-recording as well as screen-sharing. By this, you can curb miscreants from recording any part of your classes.
• Watermarking: Learnyst videos are automatically watermarked with the learner details. This is an intelligent and foolproof way to protect your videos as the identity of the screen-capturer can be easily found whenever the video is shared.

What’s next?

Follow your passion for teaching and do secure video streaming effortlessly. Sign up with Learnyst and begin your teaching journey in a safe ecosystem. 

At Learnyst, we help you with the entire process of course creation to marketing, creating your own branded online academy.

If you already have course contents ready, signup with us and get your online academy for free 14 days.

You can create your own branded online academy, upload, sell, Secure video streaming, and get 100% course sales credited to your bank account during this 14 day trial period.

So, go ahead. Create and Sell Courses online and make 10X revenue within months.