Verizon Media report says streaming session attacks rose 40% in 2020

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Only 30% of industry executives interviewed for a disturbing new report by Verizon Media thought that the use of apps as a cyberattack surface was a priority, and only 22% of them felt that they were adequately prepared to defend against them.

Similarly, just 39% of those surveyed thought that Distributed Denial of Service (DDoD) attacks were a priorty and 20% felt adequately prepared.  Only 15% felt fully ready for credential stuffing attacks, and 10% for phishing.

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Other highlights:

  • 30% of OTT providers suffered platform outages as a result of security breaches. 13% had content breaches and 9% had data breaches.  Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks were up 151% between 2019 and 2020
  • Attacks on APIs used to manage streaming sessions increased by 40% in 2020, allowing hackers to deposit code and access data on servers and clients
  • Application vulnerabilities enable hackers to bypass authentication and steal user credentials.
  • The need to serve multiple releases of at least eight TV-capable device platforms and two mobile platforms multiplies the risks

Countermeasures detailed in the report include DDoS Protection, Web Application Firewalls, and Bot Management.

Access the report, “Protecting Your OTT streaming service from cyberattacks,” by Verizon Media

Why it matters

While the cyberattack techniques described in this report are not piracy in themselves, they make media service data centers vulnerable to theft of content assets which may subsequently be redistributed by pirates.   Pirates can also steal and resell account access data, exposing consumer private information.

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