Not all software has the luxury of running as a service. In many cases software has to run at the edge. This is particular true in media & entertainment. For the purposes of this article, the “edge” is stretched to its widest possible sense to include on-premises servers, desktop PCs, mobile apps, and embedded systems. At PACE, we call this “the wild,” as the environment is no longer under the control of the software developer.
Reasons for running at the edge include:
Software security exists to protect software in the wild. It enables software to protect itself—stopping piracy, thwarting reverse engineering to extract intellectual property (IP) and software secrets, and attesting that the runtime environment is as safe as possible.
Software security is essential to protecting the media and entertainment industry and the highly valuable content it creates.
Securely delivering video and audio content to consumer devices means encrypting the content from Content Delivery Network (CDN) to screen. Any encryption is only as good as its key management. With content distribution, the decryption has to happen on the consumer’s device—as close to the screen as possible. That poses a key management challenge: how do you keep the key safe on an insecure device? Often a secure hardware chip (e.g. a secure element) is used for this, but many delivery platforms won’t have access to secure hardware. That means using software security solutions like white-box cryptography.
PACE has been working with DRM vendors to upgrade the security of their DRM implementations.
In many cases, the tools used to create and manage content are as valuable to their developers as the content they are used to create. If the revenue from the tools is compromised through piracy or unlicensed usage, then the developers do not have the funds to continue to invest in the tools. Protecting this revenue is the job of software licensing. Licensing allows the software IP owner (often the “publisher”) to control access to their software, only allowing licensed users to use it. The best licensing platforms also secure the software IP from reverse engineering and firmly anchor the licensing to the software package. This stops “cracks” from appearing.
PACE has been working in media and entertainment for decades to provide secure and trusted software licensing to some of the biggest players in the space.
If you want to make a CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) twitch, mention “API abuse” to them. They understand the damage—in terms of money, disruption and brand—that can be caused by a cyberattack that exploits exposed APIs. The traditional approach is to build defenses behind the API. The cybersecurity equivalent of having a security guard behind your front door.
At PACE, we believe it is also important to get in front of API Security. Our security tools allow for the secure authentication of software running out in the wild, like video players on consumer devices. This means only software you can verifiably trust has the key to unlock your front door.
Not all AI models run behind data center firewalls. As was recognized at this year’s Mobile World Congress (MWC), Edge AI is one of the most exciting areas of technology development. Running AI at the Edge brings new security challenges. How do you stop someone from accessing your model? Access means they can:
PACE has been working with customers in media and entertainment, and beyond, to protect their AI models deployed at the edge. We help them to securely encrypt the model, and to firmly anchor the model to the rest of their software package. This keeps the contents of the model secret and means it can only be used for its intended use case.
Software running at the edge often contains interesting and business-valuable algorithms. After all, one of the reasons for edge computing is to run processing as close to the action as possible. Like AI models, running algorithms at the edge exposes them to reverse engineering and manipulation risks, as well as lifting attacks. For many companies, the algorithms they develop are the technological moat that keeps them one step ahead of the competition. The longer an algorithm remains a trade secret, the more value the company builds and the more time they have to invest in taking the next step.
PACE provides our customers with tools to protect the value of their algorithms.
At PACE Anti-Piracy, we specialize in software security—helping companies protect their intellectual property, secure their software in the wild, and prevent secrets from being extracted.
Whether it’s safeguarding DRM content, securing AI models, or locking down critical algorithms, our solutions are built to defend against piracy, reverse engineering, and cyber threats.
If you’d like to learn more, reach out to us or schedule a meeting at the upcoming NAB Show 2025. Let’s talk about keeping your software secure.
