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M
manxman_1
Participant
May 18, 2010
Question

Q - Can media dynamically protect-&-serve SWF on an LMS?

  • May 18, 2010
  • 2 replies
  • 829 views

Hi, here's the problem:

I want to protect SWF files that contain graphics, code and audio from rippers.

I want to sell the SWFs online via credit card but not allow unauthorised use or sharing.

I want customers to be able to use the dynamically served SWF on a learning management/content system (web training delivery).

The learning management/content system is hosted externally to the corporate intranet via a firewall.

I want to control the licence - for example: a company buys the licence for max 100 persons per month (i.e. 100 deliveries of a training course).

The above is possible with non-Adobe products but I haven't found one that also dynamically serves SWFs/video.

Is it possible with Adobe products?

I envisage on the LMS web page, there is a SWF link to the server, with a licence code in the web page, so when the page is loaded, it calls for the SWF and provides the licence, the adobe media server checks the licence and counts the uses, with firewall permission, and deliveres the SWF to the intranet web page.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    A
    amn
    Known Participant
    May 24, 2010

    Forget about "protecting" SWFs from anything. It's absolutely trivial to disassemble and even decompile these to a degree where up to most of the logic can be figured out. This applies to tags carrying both graphics etc contained within an SWF, and those carrying virtual machine instructions - i.e. the Flash Player application code.

    You are hereby trying to figure out the so called client-side DRM problem. Well, know this - DRM usually falls short of achieving its intended function. It annoys your users by adding complexity to your systems and thus introducing errors (more code = more errors), and does not prevent hacking. The protected-path strategy is a better implementation of DRM, but no such thing has been implemented for SWF content yet.

    M
    manxman_1Author
    Participant
    May 24, 2010

    Hi,

    I'm aware of the ease of access to SWF, hence my post, but they can be protected via special EXEs (not flash export exe's).

    Yes its more hassle, but DRM is also needed to enable monetisation.

    I was trying to get clarification from an expert in Adobe because the sales brochures and product range are confusing.

    Anyway I'll close this post.

    I'll shop elsewhere.

    PS: I find your responses slightly aggressive.

    Are you frustrated with Adobe too?

    A
    amn
    Known Participant
    May 24, 2010

    No, I am a slightly aggressive person :-) But I detest physical violence!

    You do have an option for attempting to achieve what you desire though, with Adobe Flash Player as target platform. You speak of protecting graphics etc.

    Well, embed the graphics as binary array (SWF has tags for that and for accessing this data as ByteArray through the API) in a protected form (e.g. encrypted). Decrypt it on client-side using code, obfuscating both the decryption routine and especially the decryption key. You are splitting the chance of compromised system in two - you have now two attack targets - the SWF file, and the corresponding player runtime. A potential attacker will have to have both (assuming the encryption holds) to extract plain graphics data.

    But as you probably see yourself, this is not much different from the DRM-style solutions. With enough dedication, your decryption key will be extracted and published, and the system will be compromised. You may achieve better protection with hardware assistance, but it's all cat and mouse game, really, where you are the mouse.

    You may not find anything worth your while elsewhere, of course I reserve this judgement somewhat depending on the user penetration of your product, dedication of the percentage of it's more hacker-oriented minds, the product ROI and various other factors. If I were you, I would do it with Flash Player, since it penetrates some ninety percent of Internet connected user market. While "Adobe Flash technology" may or may not give you DRM as per se, SWF is a very versatile format itself, certainly customizeable enough to give you real ideas on how to do it all yourself.

    Mac users don't execute EXE files, by the way. Windows is a thing of the past IMO, today it is all about client diversity.

    S
    SE_0208
    Participating Frequently
    May 24, 2010

    There is nothing much FMS can do here and also I am not aware of any adobe product which exactly fits in your requirement ( I am no way saying there is no such Adobe product - in case if i come to know , i will post here again). If your requirement is purely video , do let me know, i can provide more details here based on your detailed req's. Basically if its pure video you can use FMRMS or Flash Access.

    M
    manxman_1Author
    Participant
    May 24, 2010

    Hi,

    thanks for your response,

    sounds like flash treats pure 'video' and pure 'graphics/text/swf' feeds differently.

    But the content could be a mix so then it would all be under video feed I guess?

    Its just that there is a widespread need to protect content (video/anim/phot/text) - but also make it available inside an intranet, and viewable in a web page.

    My research shows (non-Adobe solution) that SWFs have to be delivered using a special flash player that decrypts the file(s). It is not played in a browser via the flash plug-in.

    Its poor that Adobe does not have a solution.

    Eg: 'multimedia protector' tends to fit the bill for me: via an .exe and linked encrypted database, and built-in player. No Mac version though.

    www.multimedia-protector.com/

    S
    SE_0208
    Participating Frequently
    May 24, 2010

    ....

    Its poor that Adobe does not have a solution.

    ...

    I categorically have stated that i am not aware of any such solution , i never said there is no Adobe solution for it. I mean you might be true but before concluding we should be sure that Adobe does not have such solution. Like i said before, will try to find if there is anything which can suit your bill from adobe.

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