RTMPDump protection module

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1

Hello,

We use Wowza with many edges to stream live content. Our client now is worried about people taking the streams with a software called RtmpDump. It can surface RTMPe. All security addons are not enough, tokens into the SWF also useless (they download the swf and run it from there). We need some kind of custom solution, like betting sites do (bet365) to protect our content. We are lost here, anyone has a clue where to find a good developer at least to make something for us?

Thank you

2

Hi,

Your best bet would be to employ DRM; that way you’ll raise the bar for content theft quite high.

If DRM is not an option, then your next bext option would be to implement something akin to SecureToken (but perhaps using some non-standard crypto scheme) and obfuscate the SWF so they can’t reverse engineer it easily (and that there’s no built-in support for it in rtmpdump, yet). However, the thinking here is to engage in “arms race” because this whole scheme is fundamentally broken. It will weed out “script kiddies” but determined attacker will get past it in a few hours worth of research.

Oh, and if you are going the securetoken route, please disable the “properties” module in your Application.xml, at least till wowza comes up with some sort of a fix.

Best regards,

Michal Jirku

Wejn s.r.o.

3

Hi,

The properties section within the Application.xml was resolved in one of our development patches and is now available in our latest main release of Wowza 3.6 which can be found here

https://www.wowza.com/pricing/installer

When wanting to protect your streams do remember there is no ‘silver bullet’ but to use a mixture of techniques to provide the best coverage against unathorized access. You can employ the following techniques :

  • Download a SWF from Wowza Media Server to prevent capture/decoding of SWF/Flash player

  • Secure Token - A mechanism to help customers protect content

  • Hotlink Denial - A mechanism to help customers reduce reposting of content on other sites

  • StreamLock™ - SSL capabilities for all methods of streaming where client support is available

  • DRM - Integration with third party DRM providers

Each of these is outline in our articles and comments found on our forums.

Andrew.