Videos can be an important asset for your business, but that doesn’t mean you want just anyone to have access to them.
For example, some videos may contain sensitive information that you want to keep away from competitors. Others might be monetized and you don’t want unauthorized users to get around the paywall. You want to protect your ownership rights.
Ultimately, some company videos are just better kept private. That’s why you need to be careful when sharing them. Uploading and downloading some company videos online is inherently risky.
At the same time, you still want sharing company videos to be convenient. Finding the right balance between security and convenience is key.
To that end, here’s how to privately share business videos in a way that is safe, secure and efficient:
1. Determine the level of security required
The first step to sharing sensitive business videos is to determine the level of security needed. In other words, how confidential is it?
Is it a public announcement for everyone in the company or does it contain proprietary information meant only for a select few? How sensitive the video is will help determine the steps you must take next.
2. Choose the right video platform
Choose a video platform best suited for the task. YouTube is perhaps the easiest way to share videos as it’s optimized for playback and sharing. However, it isn’t the most secure way to share video, even with its private sharing option.
For a more secure option, look for a private video hosting platform like VIDIZMO, Brightcove or Wistia. There are many options, so do your research and compare platforms by their security measures.
For the safest option, you can host your company video on a private website that you protect with the following steps.
3. Restrict user access
Restricting access to your videos can be done in many ways. For one, you can restrict access based on geography or domain. If someone tries to access your video from a foreign IP address, they won’t be able to.
Other options include only giving access to those with an authorized link, password, specific IP address, or all of the above. In every case, you’re adding an extra layer of security to make it harder for unauthorized users to access your videos.
4. Use video encryption
Another way to secure your sensitive business videos is to encrypt them so that only those with an encryption key can make sense of it.
One way to do this is to insist on using only HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to share videos online. This is an encrypted website protocol that is much safer than HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol).
5. Protect embed codes
Embed codes are blocks of code that allow you to render a video on another website. To protect your videos from being embedded on websites you don’t want them to be on, protect the embed codes with a domain restriction.
That way, if your videos do end up on another website, they simply won’t play.
6. Audit viewer activity
Lastly, monitor your viewer activity closely. Seeing who is accessing your videos and how they are accessing them can alert you to suspicious activity. Research any abnormalities and confirm whether the video access was authorized or not. If not, add another security layer to the video. The faster you do, the better.
The bottom line
Cybersecurity needs to be a top priority for any business these days, and that includes protecting sensitive company videos. Go through the list above to make your business safer today.