Beyond DRM: Why DRM is not enough to prevent Piracy? VdoCipher Security Addons

For quite a long, it was considered that Hollywood approved DRMs (Google Widevine, Apple Fairplay DRM) is good enough to protect videos from piracy. The technologies which hackers pursue to illegally download content or share illegal access have advanced over the years, and currently DRM is not enough to prevent video piracy. We are listing various reasons why DRM is not enough, and what additional protections are done by VdoCipher to fix each vulnerability.

Problem 1 – DRM vulnerabilities in past 1 year

Widevine DRM has 2 security levels – L1 and L3. L1 is hardware based key exchange security , while L3 is software based key exchange security. While L1 based devices have been always full secure, L3 based devices on android and windows can face on and off vulnerabilities. The hacks which came out earlier were quite sophisticated and not many hackers were actually able to technically implement it.

Over the time the hacks have improved, and though they still are technical, but with helps from international hacker communities, now each country has several groups of hackers who can implement these hacks to download DRM content.

VdoCipher Edge Security Solution for this issue –

VdoCipher has launched a piracy tracker and hacker identification tool to auto-block advanced piracy tracking attempts including DRM breakage. Our years of experience has led us to know the common technical tools, patterns and device vulnerabilities which hackers tend to exploit, and we autoblock them.

In addition to auto-blocking these attempts, we also provide a list of users who attempted these, so that if required further action can be taken against them. All this information is provided in the dashboard. Please contact us to implement this in your platform.

Results in past 12 months for our customers:

🚫 300,000+ sessions blocked for potential piracy attempts
📱 35,000+ unique devices/IPs blocked for potential piracy attempts
🔑 4500+ users detected who misused their accounts sharing login/password with multiple users
🌐 800+ customer websites/apps where these attempts were detected & auto-blocked
🔒 1300+ users’ accounts have been proactively blocked by our customers based on above data
⚖️ 40+ users against which the customers have also initiated legal actions

More details on piracy tracker tool

Problem 2- Extracting video URLs to play outside website/app or app clones

While DRM encryption can attempt to prevent illegal video downloads, but still if video URLs can be fetched outside the platform site or app, and played outside by unauthorized users; then encryption is of no use. Sometimes, hackers can even make clone piracy apps of the main apps. 

VdoCipher Edge Security Intelligence Solution for this issue –

VdoCipher provides backend authenticated dynamic playback URLs which are authorized to only play in the particular website or app where it is intended; any attempt to extract and play these URLs outside the app/url is automatically blocked. Our API embeds also have other parameters to control access like number of days for access of offline downloads, time expiry for playback URLs etc.

More details on API authentication at backend

Problem 3 – Illegal password sharing leading over-usage

Suppose there is prevention from illegal downloads, screen capture and url sharing, but still if someone shares access to login and password; then multiple users can enjoy the same subscription and cause revenue loss to the content creator.

VdoCipher Solution for this issue –

While there are few ways to do this at website/app login level, which can be done directly by the platform owners; if you integrate our APIs, we provide a watch time based calculation for per user per folder/per course so that you can see which users’ are over using. We also provide unique device/browser count for users and total watch time across all videos per user. This information is provided in the dashboard.

How media companies try to circumvent DRM vulnerabilities, is it enough ? 

OTT platforms, browser companies, and device manufacturers know about the existing vulnerabilities with DRM encryption in such devices. But instead of trying to regularly patch such issues, Hollywood-based OTT and media platforms have devised a compromised solution for the same.

They play only upto 720 pixels and comparatively lower bitrate in L3 devices while playing 1080p or 4k in L1 devices. Though this is not a solution adopted by rules, for example, Indian movie platforms stream HD content in all devices.

So, the effort by Hollywood studios is to limit the leak of their highest quality while being aware of the compromise of 720p quality version. This solution is not useful for educators, learning platforms and content creators whose premium knowledge content is almost as good as in terms of visual and audio quality in 720p as in 1080p. 

There is also a use of watermark (which vdocipher also does), but as you can understand, watermark is a deterrent/discouragement plus a post-piracy tracker. It is not an active pre-piracy security measure.

VdoCipher understands this issue and thus strives hard to keep updating its security beyond DRM to implement additional tracking measures of 300+ device and user security parameters to block advanced DRM-breaking piracy attempts. Not only Vdocipher is able to block such attempts but also identifies the logged in user id on your platform who attempted such attempt and provides the info in dashboard.

Why are similar things not done by other competitors video players or DRM companies? 

There are 2 kinds of companies that have existed for long in vthe ideo industry. Video player or video hosting companies that provide a full video infra, including cloud hosting, player and video management. Then there are DRM-only companies which just provide DRM encryption and decryption protocols as a licensed solution. Such solutions need technical effort to be integrated with a 3rd party video player/video hosting solution or a platform’s own in-house video infrastructure.

Since the vulnerabilities exist at the cusp of where DRM meets player and backend hosting, and no single company typically does both till recent times, they have not been able to log track and block these vulnerabilities.

VdoCipher Difference:

While at Vdocipher, we have 10+ years of experience in doing this combination of DRM + video player/hosting combination and have a detailed internal analytics logging system where we log each and every video load, each video playback attempt , logging 300+ parameters for each session, and storing it. We have manually seen and recorded patterns of hackers using the L3 vulnerabilities in different methods using emulators, coding scripts, and device compromises.

We identify such patterns and block them. This requires a continuous, regular effort, we keep seeing and recording new such attempts and blocking them. That is why we also include new error codes for potential piracy attempts in our dashboard. Security is not a one-time thing, it is continuous work, and we are a company dedicated to same. This is the reason no one has come close to the security stack that we have built, and even many hacker communities approve of us being the highest security provider amongst all in the video market.

Problem 4 – Screen Capture in some platforms

A lot of misinformation is spread by some video hosting or DRM companies who claim full screen capture protection in all browsers including Chrome, Firefox. It is technically not possible to prevent 100% screen capture in browsers like chrome, Firefox in desktop and android. Other platforms claiming it are factually incorrect. Netflix and other major platforms are also unable to prevent screen capture in many cases in desktop.

VdoCipher Solution for this issue –

Screen capture can be prevented with 100% surety in Safari browser and mobile apps (android, IOS) with help of DRM and some additional technologies. For other cases , we have a viewer specific watermark to discourage screen capture. The watermark is user specific and can be customised for color, transparency, speed of movement, frequency etc. to optimise for viewer experience and security.

More details on screen capture protection 
Demo of dynamic watermarking

Problem 5 – Telegram promoting large scale piracy with Hacker friendly policies

Any body can make a group (with anonymous identity) and directly upload videos or other content in the telegram group. The name of the group can be the name of the brand they are pirating content of, and it can be searched by people. Groups can have 20,000+ people who can get this content. Telegram has 3 core features/services which seem to have been created intentionally for these purposes. 

• Anonymity of the user is maintained regardless of any illegal activities they may be involved and the anonymity is still maintained even after being forced by govt. Authorities. Same user can create groups again and again , and keep pirating content. 
• Allowing searching groups by title, so that anyone in the world can search and join a group where illegal activities are being done (e.g. Child Pornography , film piracy of paid movies, courses, secretive messaging about illegal activities, child). Such things can not happen on WhatsApp or most other chat apps.
• Intentionally poor response to takedown requests from copyright owners and allowing multiple groups to be made by the same person.

VdoCipher Solution for this –

Best action against piracy is pre-piracy action by implementing technical actions so that the content does not get leaked in the first place. DRM, Watermark, Piracy tracker, Backend Authentication – All these tools ensure that the content does not get downloaded in raw files and is prevented from going on telegram. Most of our customers, even the largest ones, never find their content leaked on telegram. There are various levels of security which a customer can use based on how much restriction they want to impose. But suppose, the customer decides to use fewer security features and there is some piracy which happens, VdoCipher helps in takedown of content/group from telegram.

Problem 6 – Coordination between international hackers through anonymous forums

Let us consider this situation –  A platform providing courses for finance students or medical students. Now these students do not have a coding background or enough technical knowledge to even attempt basic technical hacks. But what they do is share their access to advanced technical hackers; and surprisingly we have seen that these hackers may not even be in the same country as the students. There are telegram groups, users, online forums on various social media platforms enabling this interaction.

VdoCipher Solution for this –

Our piracy tracker solution also provides user id who attempted piracy, and our customers regularly take action against such users. When students come to know that they are being tracked and are reprimanded with legal notice, they fear in attempting such things; and also overall student community understands that their illegal actions can have consequences.

Please feel free to contact support@vdocipher.com for implementing these video security features with VdoCipher video player on your app and website.

FAQs: Beyond DRM & Edge Intelligence

1. What does “beyond DRM” mean in video security?

“Beyond DRM” means adding extra layers of protection beyond encryption, such as watermarking, dynamic playback URLs, piracy tracking, and edge intelligence, to secure video content from multiple piracy threats.

2. Why is DRM alone not enough to prevent piracy?

DRM protects video playback but cannot stop screen recording, password sharing, or illegal redistribution. Going beyond DRM adds tools like watermarking and real-time piracy tracking to fill these gaps.

3. How does edge intelligence improve security beyond DRM?

Edge intelligence analyzes playback patterns at the user’s device or network level, detecting suspicious activity like multiple logins or unusual IP usage. This proactive defense strengthens security beyond DRM.

4. What role does dynamic watermarking play in going beyond DRM?

Dynamic watermarking embeds user-specific details on every video stream, discouraging screen recording and helping trace leaks back to the source – a vital step beyond DRM encryption.

5. Can “beyond DRM” solutions prevent password sharing?

Yes. Features like device limits, concurrent stream control, and playback analytics help identify and stop account abuse, reducing revenue loss that DRM alone cannot address.

6. Is screen recording protection possible beyond DRM?

Yes. By combining watermarking, app-level restrictions, and edge intelligence-powered detection, beyond DRM strategies offer stronger protection against illegal screen recording.

7. How does piracy tracking work in a beyond DRM model?

Piracy tracking goes beyond DRM by monitoring device fingerprints, IP addresses, and playback sessions. Using edge intelligence, platforms can detect and block piracy attempts in real time.

8. Does beyond DRM also secure offline playback?

Yes. With secure downloads, expiry timers, and device-bound encryption, beyond DRM ensures content stays protected even when viewed offline.

9. Can beyond DRM stop piracy on platforms like Telegram?

Beyond DRM makes piracy harder by using dynamic playback URLs, visible watermarks, and edge intelligence monitoring. While no solution is 100% foolproof, it significantly reduces large-scale piracy.

10. What are the business benefits of going beyond DRM?

Going beyond DRM safeguards revenue, builds customer trust, and ensures compliance with studio-grade requirements. With edge intelligence and analytics, businesses also gain deeper insights into user behavior and threats.