Client-side, server-side, or a hybrid approach are all viable options for watermarking. Client-side or “hybrid” approaches have become increasingly popular among OTT providers in recent years as a means of improving the user experience while also cutting costs. On the client-side, the logic is either implemented in the firmware or in the SDK where the OTT client-related information is inserted. To make it more difficult for an attacker to reverse engineer, this data must always be generated on the server side using a randomized ID. Using a “hybrid” approach, the content is first preprocessed by the server to create various versions, and the watermark is then added or managed on the edge servers or at the client-side.
When the watermark is placed on the client’s side, the watermarking logic is exposed and can be tampered with using readily available tools such as browser-debugger and bypass watermarking. Reverse-engineering the agent’s JavaScript code or tampering with the DOM both allow attackers to bypass the watermark. Because of this, content providers must use tamper-proofing methods to forensic video watermarking as an additional security measure for DRM protected content. Code alteration can be detected by tamper-proofing, which causes the programme to fail if tampering is discovered.
The scene is represented just by its 2D projection, which are photos acquired by cameras. It is possible to watermark image sequences that record a 3D scene and extract the watermark from any rendered image generated for any arbitrary view angle, as opposed to the first two methods, which only protect the watermark information for the two key components of 3D scene representation (geometry and texture). If you’re using dynamic watermarking, you may embed information on the video asset while it’s being played back at the user’s end, such as the user’s email, date and time of watching, their IP address, or even their business logo. Because of their dynamic nature, they provide additional protection for confidential content that is not intended to be shared or altered. DAI (dynamic ad insertion) is also activated via dynamic watermarking in order to optimize addressable ad income.
DRM video protection techniques such as watermarks are not sufficient on their own, but when used in conjunction with other measures, they can help to safeguard the intellectual property of the content owner and aid to trace the source of any alleged infringement. They also serve as a helpful reminder to users about their own and other’s rights to the content they’re using.
The watermarking agent’s JavaScript code must be protected from reverse engineering in order to address the first issue—JavaScript reverse engineering.. Using JavaScript obfuscation, the code can be transformed into an unreadable, hard-to reverse-engineer format while still running on the web browser. JavaScript can be made more secure by including anti-tampering and anti-debugging capabilities in addition to obfuscation. They prevent dynamic or static code analysis by crashing the web player whenever an unintentional user tries to debug or modify the watermarking agent’s logic. The second issue, DOM tampering, can be addressed by monitoring the DOM in real-time to detect and block any attempts to remove or modify the watermark. These include alterations to overlays that are made by manipulating the DOM (changing its HTML elements or CSS properties). Web page monitoring software should be able to detect any changes to the watermark, regardless of how the watermark is delivered.
