The Wowza Video™ service offers a comprehensive set of security features designed to safeguard the delivery and access of streams throughout the entire process, starting from capturing with a camera or source encoder, undergoing transcoding, and, ultimately, generating streams for viewer consumption in a player.
This article outlines which security features are available for streams in Wowza Video. Each security feature listed below is available for both live stream and video.
Security features for HLS streams using Wowza CDN on Fastly
The following features are available to secure an HLS stream that uses Wowza CDN on Fastly stream targets in Wowza Video.
Geo-blocking for playback on Fastly
Geo-blocking through Wowza Video allows you to selectively allow or block access to Wowza CDN on Fastly stream targets to control where a stream can be viewed. You can use geo-blocking to specify which countries/regions are allowed or which countries/regions are blocked. You can also allow streaming at specified IP addresses for live streams, even if they're within a blocked location.
View instructions on how to add geo-blocking in Wowza Video in the Geo-Blocking sections at:
DRM (digital rights management)
Digital rights management (DRM) technology provides a way, through encryption, for content creators to protect copyrights and unauthorized distribution of their digital media. Wowza Video provides integration with third-party DRM services you can use to protect video (VOD) content and live streams from unauthorized viewing.
View instructions on how to add DRM for Wowza Video in the DRM sections at:
Player token domain restriction for playback on Fastly
If you're programatically adding the player using standalone JavaScript instead of through a Wowza Video-generated JS or iFrame embed code, you're required to obtain a player token through Wowza Video to include in your code. The token authentication ensures that Wowza Flowplayer, using a Wowza CDN on Fastly target, authenticates the player. During generation of the token, you can domain-lock a token to up to two domains. This will protect your player tokens from abuse through third parties.
To create a player token and add domain restriction:
- Go to Tokens in the navigation.
- Click + New Token.
- Enter a descriptive name for the player token.
- Under Domain Restriction, enter the url of the domain to restrict the token to the domain.
- Optionally, enter a second domain to restrict the token to the domain.
- Click Create Token. The token displays on the screen.
- Hover over the token, then click the token to copy it.
Player hostname restriction for playback on Fastly
To protect the players you configure and manage in Wowza Video from being used by third parties, you can lock each player configuration to one or more hostnames. You can create more than one player, then, you can pair a player you've created to use with a live stream or video.
To create a player and add hostname restriction:
- Go to Configurations in the navigation.
- Click + New Player.
- Enter a descriptive name for the player.
- Select configurations you need for the player.
- Under Restrict to Hostnames, enter the hostname(s) to restrict the player to be embedded only under the hostname(s) you enter.
- Complete the rest of the player configuration process.
