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Understanding BrainCert's Native DRM Solution

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5 mins read

Integrating Digital Rights Management (DRM) into the BrainCert Learning Management System (LMS) is essential for protecting educational video content from unauthorized access and downloading. BrainCert's DRM solution provides a powerful and efficient way to secure your videos while ensuring high performance and low latency for an optimal user experience.

The term “Digital Rights Management” (DRM) refers to the policies and technologies used to prevent unauthorized access to digital media content and files. While several third-party DRM solutions like Apple FairPlay and WideVine exist, they come with high costs and complex implementations. DRM providers typically charge per view or based on the number of videos or bandwidth, making licensing a hassle.
At BrainCert, we aimed to create a DRM solution that is both cost-effective and free of licensing complications for our LMS customers. Our proprietary QuantumKey encryption, tokenization, and licensing system optimizes video and audio streaming with HLS streams and on-the-fly compression. This enterprise-grade DRM solution is designed to secure media on major web, iOS, and Android devices.

This article will guide you through the integration of our DRM solution and explain how it works.


Understanding the Architecture

BrainCert's DRM solution is an intricate network of components working together to deliver secure video content. Here's a breakdown of the key elements:

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  • Content Delivery Network (CDN): BrainCert utilizes a global CDN to ensure fast and reliable video delivery worldwide. The CDN caches video segments near users, reducing latency and enhancing playback performance.

  • DRM Servers: These servers act as gatekeepers, fetching video files from your repositories. They handle encryption using BrainCert’s proprietary QuantumKey algorithm, guaranteeing content protection during transmission and storage.

  • Token Authentication: Each video stream is protected by a unique token generated and attached to user requests. This token ensures that only authorized users can access the video content.

  • Encryption During Processing: Videos are encrypted using QuantumKey during the processing stage, ensuring all video segments are securely encrypted before being served to users. This method significantly hinders unauthorized users from downloading and reassembling video segments.

  • Key Authentication on the Fly: For added security, the QuantumKey encryption key is authenticated on the fly. This process ensures that the user's access is verified in real-time, adding an additional layer of security when serving the encrypted stream.

  • Low-Latency Streaming: BrainCert prioritizes low-latency streaming through advanced technology and global infrastructure. This ensures videos start playing quickly with smooth buffering, providing an uninterrupted viewing experience.

  • Scalability: Our DRM solution is built to scale, accommodating growth in users and video content. It can handle high-traffic volumes and extensive video libraries, making it suitable for organizations of all sizes.

  • HLS Stream Optimization: BrainCert’s HLS streams are optimized for seamless playback across mobile, tablet, and desktop devices, ensuring consistent viewing on any platform.

  • License Management: BrainCert's DRM solution incorporates a robust license management system to control content access. When a user requests to play a video, the client application sends a license request to the BrainCert DRM server, which generates a JWT token containing the user's access rights and license validity period. The token is validated with each access attempt. If valid, the server grants a license allowing decryption and playback, detailing permissions and constraints like viewing windows and device restrictions. During playback, the server dynamically authenticates the encryption key, ensuring that only users with valid licenses can access the content, thus providing an additional layer of security against unauthorized access.


Optimizing Performance for All Users

BrainCert offers additional solutions to deliver optimal video playback under any network conditions:

  • Adaptive Bitrate Streaming: The video player automatically adjusts video quality based on the user's internet connection. This ensures users with slower connections can still stream videos at lower bitrates

  • Video Compression: We employ efficient video compression techniques to reduce file size without compromising quality.

  • Caching: BrainCert utilizes CDN caching to serve content from the nearest CDN region closest to the viewer.


How It Works

  1. User Request: When a user initiates a video playback request on your platform, the request triggers an authentication process. A unique token is generated for the specific session.

  2. Token Validation: The DRM server validates the token to confirm user authorization to access the video content.

  3. File Retrieval and Encryption: The DRM server retrieves the video file from the repository and encrypts it using QuantumKey during the processing stage. This ensures that all video segments are securely encrypted before being served to users, providing protection against unauthorized access.

  4. Content Delivery: The encrypted video segments are delivered to the user via the Content Delivery Network (CDN). The user's video player decrypts and plays the video in real-time, ensuring a secure and uninterrupted viewing experience. This process also includes encryption of data in transit to ensure security during delivery


This approach ensures the protection of your video content while maintaining a smooth and seamless viewing experience for authorized users.

Benefits of BrainCert DRM Solution

  • Enhanced Security: Prevents unauthorized downloading and copying of video content.

  • Seamless Playback: Optimized for low-latency streaming and smooth buffering.

  • Scalable: Handles high traffic volumes and large video libraries.

  • Consistent Quality: Ensures seamless playback across various devices.


With BrainCert's native DRM solution, you can securely share your valuable educational video content while guaranteeing a high-quality viewing experience for your users.

Experience the future of secure digital media with BrainCert, where protecting your content doesn’t come at an extra cost.

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