Cyber Revolution In The Media & Entertainment Industry

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The media industry is undergoing an historic  paradigm revolution which in the last century has happened a number of times with radio, television and the Internet.

In the last decade connections to the Net have  increased by over a billion, we now have 3.20B people connected to the Internet and we have different models of media for different countries and different industries. 

The publishing industry is an industry which is segmented into the book, newspaper and magazine industry. The publishing market is not simply a business. The products made in the publishing industry have a huge impact on the socio-political and cultural environment, for instance in education systems.  Additionally, due to the increased popularity of online resources and e-books the publishing market is facing higher levels of competition. 

Competition in the publishing industry is affected by consumer spending which is strongly related to economic growth and employment levels.

Nowadays, film and media companies heavily rely on digital services. A tape-based camera has become an exotic thing of the past, superseded by digital recording equipment that supports longer footage shooting and unparalleled video quality. Video editing software is one more indispensable element of every film studio’s toolkit.
Because of the higher levels of rivalry caused by the introduction of new technologies, such as printing on demand, e-books and online newspapers, society often claims that the publishing industry is dying. 

While it is true that the publishing industry is undergoing a digital revolution, this revolution should be seen as a new opportunity, not as the end of the publishing industry.

In 1990, when the first high-speed digital copiers came on the market, it appeared as if we were at the dawn of a new era in publishing. The new machines were hailed to bring about a revolution in the publishing industry as radical as Gutenberg’s introduction of the movable character press. 

The traditional printing industry requires large capital investments, long print runs, large warehousing facilities, and careful printing volume forecasting. 

Compared to traditional presses, high-speed digital copiers are an order of magnitude cheaper, can print cost-efficiently runs as short as a single copy, have small warehousing requirements for the digital storage media, and eliminate the risk of volume forecasting. The new machines have been very successful in the market place, both for in-house printing and in traditional print shops. The traditional printing press manufacturers have quickly responded to the new market situation by introducing direct-to-plate presses, where the pre-press and plate- making workflow steps are carried out completely in the digital domain. These machines are finding a fertile market for short print runs, which cover the range from 1000 or less to 10,000 copies, and require faster printing times and more sophisticated finishing processes than printers based on copier technology can offer. 

There’s no question that, as internet use has gone up, magazine circulation has gone down.

The first online only magazine Salon, hit the web in 1995. Within a short time the site was generating 5.8 million monthly visitors, proving the potential of the medium and triggering a rush to online journalism. Other magazines soon followed suit, with more and more opting for digital over physical publication. In the first half of 2014, UK consumer magazines lost almost one million print sales, with some titles down over 25% on the previous year.

Though the internet has forced print magazines to adapt their aesthetics in order to keep readers interested, it’s also made it easier for publishers to find interesting and engaging content. 

Readers will probably go online to find out about breaking news and developments within an industry or sector, so when they pick up a magazine they want content that’s in depth, well-researched and relevant. This demand for quality, as well as the increased availability of freelance writers, photographers and designers, has given publishers the chance to offer readers incredibly high value products.

The media and entertainment industry plays a vital role in forming public outlook and a national view, making it a significant target for cyber threat actors, nation-states and hacktivists seeking visibility. 

Media houses command a significant soft power to retain and spread their influence by advocating their agenda, gathering public opinion and shaping it. They also maintain tons of raw reporting and information acquired from less-known sources. Nation-state-sponsored threat actors may try to exfiltrate or destruct such content to expose or discourage certain publications or merely to evaluate what the organisation knows about the issue and identify its sources.

Worldwide, entertainment and media companies are increasingly becoming targets for cyber crime as cyber criminals find new and innovative ways to defeat security measures and controls. 

The theft of intellectual property or commercially sensitive information, amongst others, is identified as one of the biggest concerns for entertainment and media companies, with far reaching consequences such as impaired reputations, profitability and undermining business models, according to PwC’s Entertainment and Media Report.
“The theft of content from an entertainment and media company, be it data, email or any other vital intellectual property, can severely undermine an organisation’s reputation and revenues, and ultimately even destroy a business,” says Vicki Myburgh, PwC Entertainment & Media Leader for Southern Africa... These are the assets that are responsible for driving revenue and shareholder value. Their protection should no longer be viewed as a function of IT, it should be seen as a priority of the board and placed high on the agenda.”

Popular music recording firm Warner Music Group disclosed a security incident in which unknown threat actors compromised a number of its  US-based e-commerce websites and stole customers’ personal information. In a security alert, the company stated that attackers planted a skimming code into the websites’ checkout pages to exfiltrate payment information entered by the visitors.

PwC looks at, amongst other things, the specific challenges facing companies in the entertainment and media sector in The Outlook. The challenges are mounting with cyber risk and competition from the technology industry identified as the top risks by global CEOs in the industry, according to PwC’s Survey.  “With businesses and people becoming increasingly more and more connected and empowered by technology, and as they are adopting cloud solutions and mobile and social technologies including connecting to both customers as well as other third parties, the potential consequences for organisations continues to grow significantly,” says Marthie Crafford, PwC Partner, Entertainment & Media, Risk Assurance Services.  “While offering opportunities for innovation and productivity the cyber era also presents new risks and challenges.” Crafford adds “In a sign that organisations are taking this threat more seriously, PwC’s 2014 ‘Global Economic Crime Survey’ indicated that the perception of the risk of cyber crime is increasing at a faster pace than that of reported actual occurrences.  This year, 48% of the respondents said their perception of cyber crime risk at their organisation increased, up from 39% in 2011.”  

The same survey continues to state that cyber crime operates largely unseen, organisations may never even realise they are being targeted until long after the damage is done.  Many entities may not have clear insight into whether their networks and the data contained therein have been breached, and they don’t know what has been lost, or its value. “It’s important for businesses to understand that cyber risk is not only one specific risk but is broad and that they need to actively manage the risks in order to mitigate the damage.”

According to PWC's Global State of Information Security Survey 2015, technology organisations, which includes entertainment and media companies, are finding it difficult to stay ahead of the criminals, as cyber-attacks continue to grow in number and sophistication.  

Over recent years there have been reported attacks against technology companies globally and here, including defacing of web sites, stealing of confidential information, watering-hole attacks and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. “Cyber risks will never be completely eliminated, and with the rising tide of cyber crime, organisations must remain vigilant and agile in the face of a constantly evolving landscape,” says Crafford.

  • Firstly, cyber security should be as much a concern to C-suite executives as it is to the IT team. Many organisations may need to consider and reposition their security strategy by more closely linking technologies, processes and tools to the broader risk management activities and thereby, prioritising an organisation’s most valuable assets and its most perceived threats. 
  • Secondly, the business ecosystem needs to be strengthened. Because of the interconnected nature of the ecosystem and the growing resilience on collaborators and third parties, organisations must integrate these external parties into their cyber security strategy. 
  • Thirdly, companies must identify and protect their most valued assets and when cyber-attacks do happen, be able to respond and remediate quickly and effectively. There is no such thing as perfect security.  An agile and commercially pragmatic approach is essential for the growth and innovation required to thrive in the new world.  

According to PWC, while a well-designed cyber security programme will not totally eliminate risk, it can enable businesses to better manage threats through an informed decision-making process and create a more resilient and efficient security practice. The fixed costs, however, will increase because making digital publishing possible high investments in the installation of a network should be made. Furthermore, unique content acquires more importance. Aspects such as the speed of digital distribution and exclusive access are more valuable to customers. 

In online media, the most important currency is audience attention. Metrics such as the number of page views, likes, shares and comments quantify attention, which is then converted into economic and social capital. 

Ideally, these metrics should be a product of networked users’ spontaneous and voluntary participation. Disinformation operations more often than not manufacture these metrics by using bots, hiring influencers, paying for crowdsourcing and developing computational tricks to game a platform’s algorithms. 

The expansion of the disinformation industry is troubling because it distorts how public opinion is perceived by researchers, the media and the public itself.

The Internet has had as profound an affect on publishing as the Gutenberg printing press. But rather than just driving the demise of print, embracing the latest technology could also help significantly boost the industry and help secure its future. The next generation who have grown up and been educated entirely in the digital era will rely even more heavily on new digital technologies.

References: 

PWC:      Atos:   CISO Magazine:    TheNextWeb:     UKEssays:     Forbes:      FireEye:    ZeroFox:   

CPO Magazine:    KSBarlevi:     HPLabs:    Swallow Tail:    Thyngs:   DefenseOne:

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