United States
The idea that “seeing is believing” no longer holds true. Advances in video editing provide great creative opportunities, but they also mean that even the most convincing footage cannot always be taken at face value. That is why Ajax Systems introduces secure video export. This new feature allows users to verify the authenticity of videos in seconds through digital signature integrity.
Why secure video export is needed
Video editing is now so advanced that anyone can add, delete, or duplicate frames, altering what really happened. With just a few clicks, events can be faked, faces swapped, or sequences distorted to fit any agenda. Also, AI takes it a step further, making it easy to create fake footage that looks completely real. Ensuring video authenticity is vital in cases where trust in the footage is essential:
- Police requests. When law enforcement requests video evidence during an investigation, it is important that the video is trusted and admissible as evidence in legal matters.
- Compliance with data protection standards. For example, the GDPR regulation in Europe and the HIPAA act in the United States require organizations to ensure that the information is protected against unauthorized or unlawful processing.
- Compliance with security industry standards. The BS EN 62676-1-1 international standard requires that video systems provide a way to verify data authenticity.
The Ajax team, committed to upholding the highest standards of security and privacy, has developed a secure video export feature to ensure that videos remain authentic.
How Ajax secure video export works
Secure video export is a feature that allows users to download digitally signed videos from Ajax video surveillance devices. Imagine someone signing an important contract with a traditional pen and paper. This signature carries inherent authenticity because each person’s signature is unique. Similarly, just as a physical signature is linked to an individual, a digital signature is linked to digital data — in our case, a video. If someone attempts to alter the video, such as by cutting out some frames, the integrity of the signature will be compromised.
Secure video exported from any Ajax video surveillance device is automatically provided with an Ajax digital signature. This signature cannot be forged. Accordingly, videos from third-party devices cannot have an Ajax signature.
How to verify the integrity of a digital signature
First, a user of an Ajax video surveillance device must export the video. There are two ways to do this:
- Via Ajax Cloud (for end users). This method allows users to export videos that are up to 15 minutes long by uploading the content to the cloud.
- Direct export (for PRO users). With this method, videos that are up to 24 hours long are downloaded directly to the user’s device. Thus, the step of uploading videos to the cloud storage is skipped.
Secure export is the same as direct export. The only difference is that a user can choose to download either a secure or insecure video file. To verify the integrity of a digital signature, a user has to play back an exported secure video through the new Ajax media player.
Ajax media player: a tool for verifying video integrity
The Ajax media player is a software video player developed by Ajax Systems. Its main purpose is to check the integrity of digital video files by verifying that their digital video signatures have not been compromised. The check is performed automatically. After playing the video in the player, the result will appear next to the file name. There are two options:
- Verified. The file’s integrity is confirmed, and no changes have been made to the file downloaded.
- Tampered. The file’s integrity cannot be verified, which means that the file has been altered or edited since it was downloaded.
In addition to checking the file integrity, Ajax media player users can also view the file’s metadata, which includes the device ID, original file duration, resolution, and more. Also, the player allows users to fast forward or rewind the video through the timeline, either by frame or by time, zoom in or out, capture screenshots, etc.
The Ajax media player can only play back videos recorded by Ajax video surveillance devices.
The Ajax media player is supported on Windows and macOS. It accepts .mp4 video files, but only those downloaded via Ajax Cloud or from Ajax apps. Video recordings that do not contain a valid Ajax digital signature cannot be played back through the Ajax media player.
Requirements for secure video export
Secure video export is available only for recordings from Ajax cameras, NVRs, and doorbells. These video surveillance devices must have the following firmware versions:
- NVRs: 2.244 or later
- Cameras: 2.309 or later
- Doorbells: 2.228 or later
With the secure video export feature, users can easily verify the authenticity of Ajax footage or detect tampering even if edits are not visible during playback. The digital signature serves as proof of a video’s authenticity, and this signature is now provided by Ajax. The Ajax media player offers a simple and convenient way to check for the signature. Ensure the devices are updated and maintain confidence that personal data remains protected with reliable Ajax solutions.
