Threat methodology for securing scalable video in the Cloud

Scalable video using Cloud Computing is a potential solution for the distribution of media content to a large number of users. This may occur over a heterogeneous network connected to devices with different capabilities and diverse set of users. Although some of the problems are well known and understood in information and network security, there is still a need to improve the existing solutions to produce a solution that is both adequately secure and efficient in highly distributed and scalable environments. In this paper, we describe such improvements using a cloud computing scenario where video content is made available through a cloud platform. When put on an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud video content should then be viewable by different consumers using different levels of bandwidth and security requirements depending on their identity. This requires a mechanism through which a cloud service could be authenticated and encrypted by end users. This paper describes the novel solution of securing scalable video in the cloud discussing the various threats for video distribution and how these can be made more secure in terms of confidentiality, availability and integrity, particularly threw source authentication and encryption.