Digital media distribution could prevent security breaches and data theft

The disastrous loss of 25 million UK citizens’ personal details need not have happened if the information had been handled using a secure digital delivery system.

“If there was ever a compelling argument for secure digital delivery, this is it. Safeguards like encryption, authorization and user authentication within a properly managed digital media distribution management system make mistakes like this very hard to make,” said David Nortier, Managing Director, EMEA, Signiant. “Maybe this incident will make people realise that untracked, unaudited postal delivery of sensitive documents and files is not a way to do business.”

Physical media, such as discs or tapes, are inherently insecure due to their portability and the fact that they are easy to conceal. In addition the capacity of physical media is increasing – a Blu Ray disc can hold approximately 50Gb – so larger files containing more information such as feature films or large databases can now be stored on them.

There are major trends towards using enterprise networks and secure data centres to transport and archive data because they are secure, efficient and cost-effective. The media sector in particular is at the forefront of this revolution, with more and more companies moving film and TV content digitally from the production set to the post-production facility to the broadcaster quickly and safely. This is the way forward to prevent the expensive loss of material if a tape breaks or a courier loses a package, and also to reduce the even more expensive risk of piracy.

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