Protection of any media file using X.509 certificates
In recent developments we presented TransCrypt Image, which is based on our developed SDK and libraries, and allow you to protect JPEG images with X.509 certificates. You can encrypt an image, you sign an image. Such possibilities allow you to protect your images (from copying or altering) and be sure that only desired people can see it. From operating system point of view those files seem like normal JPEG pictures, which is a major difference from other encryption methods that create special containers and put files there. As files are normal JPEG pictures you can upload them to any location (except those, which optimize files, like social networks), for example, to SkyDrive, and be sure that images will still be secure.
We have updated and extended our SDK and now you can encrypt or sign any media file. It means that now you can take MP3 file, select a demo sample, encrypt it, and for everybody this file will contain only demo sample. When you open such MP3 file using Media Player, then it will play only demo sample, and original content will be protected. To listen to the original content, you will need to have a X.509 certificate, and the owner should specify you in the Recipient list. Here is the example screenshot from our prototype:
In above example we took a MP3 file, then we selected demo sample which will be played for unauthorized recipients, and protected this MP3 file, and as a result generated protected audio file (note that default browser window will not play this file, you need to download it). You can open this file using any media player, but you will hear only demo sample. To listen to the original file you need to have a recipient certificate and decrypt this file.
So far we support for X.509 protection the following media formats (that we actually tested):
- Audio: .WAV, .MP3, .AAC, .FLAC, .M4A
- Video: .AVI, .MKV, .FLV, .MPEG, .MP4, .MOV
- Image: Any image format (including formats like .NEF, .CR2 and etc).
These libraries are still under development and we will post updates. However, it can already be seen that such PKI possibilities can be applied to content protection as it allows you to control "copy" operation on the recipient's end.