HOLLYWOOD HITS
BACK AT PIRACY
Copyright 2001 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ August 9th 2001 ]
A leading
British computer security expert is spearheading
a new initiative aimed at suffocating the growing
threat motion picture studios face from hackers
who penetrate their networks and steal advanced
trailers, video rushes and movie scripts and distribute
across the internet.
James
Sinclair, President and Chief Technology officer
of Global Network Security Services, has been
hired by a coalition of Hollywood’s top studios
- including Warner Brothers, MGM and the William
Morris Agency - to penetrate the firewalls guarding
against malicious attack and potential theft and
design a protection strategy aimed at keeping
the studios content tightly under wraps.
While
mainstream media have primarily focused on the
illegal production, transportation and distribution
of MP3's which is estimated to cost the music
industry four billion dollars per year in lost
revenue, motion picture fraud is on the increase,
spawning rapidly across the internet and fueled
by faster cable modems and internet connections
which can consume bandwidth at 300kps and above.
One such
target which recently topped the most distributed
motion picture currently in circulation across
the internet is Paramount Pictures Lara Croft:
Tomb Raider movie starring Oscar-winning actress
Angelina Jolie.
During
a recent interview with the British Broadcasting
Corporation in London, Steven Gaydos, executive
director of Variety Magazine, said "piracy will
happen the moment you get your hands on a finished
product - people will sit in a theatre and they'll
videotape a movie off the screen." Gaydos also
attributes the growing trend of motion picture
piracy to insider trading, saying "most companies
do not realise that 90% of the attacks performed
on their systems are the result of inside jobs."
Hollywood
is now waking up to the sobering thought that
unless it's computer networks and reels of celluloid
are not enveloped in tighter security, it stands
to loose billions over the coming years.
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