NAB Show Preview: Signal security in a distributed media world

The shift to IP-based and cloud-distributed media operations has made broadcast infrastructure more flexible. As content reaches audiences across an increasing number of platforms and delivery channels, the points of exposure have multiplied, turning security and signal reliability into boardroom concerns for broadcasters, streamers and platform operators

At the 2026 NAB Show, conversations are likely to span several distinct but related problems: knowing what is happening across a distributed signal chain, protecting content from an expanding range of threats, keeping services on air when something fails and establishing whether content itself can be trusted.

Seeing across a distributed signal chain

Traditional broadcast monitoring was built for closed, hardware-defined environments. As operations move to IP and cloud infrastructure, that visibility becomes harder to maintain, and the consequences of losing it are more immediate.

“When you virtualize your infrastructure and spread it across ground and cloud, you haven’t eliminated failure points, you’ve multiplied them. In a live environment, the detection window is small, really small, so the organizations managing this well aren’t the ones with the best response plans, they’re the ones who never get surprised in the first place. Continuous, per-frame visibility across every signal path means you catch the anomaly before it reaches air, full stop,” said Michael Demb, vice president of product strategy at TAG Video Systems.

The underlying issue is that IP networks introduce layers of abstraction that traditional signal monitoring was not designed to see through.

“As video distribution architectures shift to IP-based delivery, maintaining visibility across the signal chain has become more complex and more important. Cable and broadcast operators are now transporting video inside layered IP networks, which means traditional monitoring approaches no longer provide full visibility into where problems arise,” said Benjamin Desbois, chief growth and strategy officer at Telestream.

Security as a business problem

The cybersecurity threat facing media operations has broadened beyond what can be addressed at the protocol level alone.

Piracy, ransomware and credential abuse now carry direct revenue implications, particularly for platforms with high-value live rights.

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Why broadcast security fails at the operational layer

“Piracy has evolved into a large-scale commercial enterprise that directly impacts streaming revenues, network efficiency, and brand reputation. Credential abuse, token manipulation, scraping, and illegal restreaming inflate traffic volumes and erode the value of premium sports and entertainment rights, placing additional strain on delivery infrastructure during high-profile live events,” said Elodie Levrel, corporate marketing and communication director at Broadpeak.

At the protocol level, some in the industry point to transport standards as part of the answer. The Reliable Internet Streaming Transport (RIST) protocol is an open standard designed to secure content in transit over the public internet.

Encryption is table stakes, but it does not solve content integrity

“Broadcasters are increasingly using the internet for the contribution of valuable content and so security is obviously a critical consideration. The RIST protocol uses security methods similar to those used in other highly sensitive industries such as the financial sector, and as such, they have withstood the scrutiny of experts and are proven to be effective. However, while RIST protects content during transit, broadcasters still need to design, maintain and continually review their entire workflows with security in mind,” said Ciro Noronha, president of the RIST Forum.

Resilience and continuity

Beyond active threats, the reliability of the infrastructure itself has become a sharper concern following a series of high-profile outages in recent years. For broadcasters, the question is not only how to prevent failure but how to keep operating when it occurs.

“Given the ongoing global geopolitical uncertainties, alongside a number of high-profile network outages that impacted businesses worldwide over the last year or two, business continuity and disaster recovery will likely be hot topics at this year’s show. Traditional disaster recovery systems no longer measure up to current requirements and needs,” said Lelde Ardava, COO of Veset.

Cloud-based playout is one approach to disaster recovery that differs from traditional hardware redundancy in that it does not require continuous operational spending.

“Unlike traditional hardware-based disaster recovery, cloud playout is flexible and scalable, and critically, doesn’t incur operational costs until it is actually needed when the primary system experiences failure,” Ardava added.

Content authenticity and synthetic media

A newer dimension of trust is emerging around the content itself, separate from the infrastructure carrying it.

As Generative AI and synthetic media become more prevalent, questions about how audiences and platforms verify what they watch have entered the industry conversation.

“Live production does not have an undo; therefore, the resilience must be there to ensure audience trust. This also applies to the rise in synthetic media. It is our duty to ensure consumers feel they are viewing trustworthy content. Technologies like content provenance, digital signatures, and AI-based verification will help tackle the issues,” said Duncan Beattie, market development manager at Tuxera.

Content provenance refers to a set of technical standards and tools designed to attach verifiable origin information to media files, allowing downstream systems and viewers to confirm where content came from and whether it has been altered.

The stakes are particularly high in live production, where there is no opportunity to correct or contextualize content after the fact. Establishing authenticity at the point of origin, rather than attempting to verify it downstream, is where much of the technical focus is headed.

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NAB Show 2026 opens April 18, with exhibits running April 19-22 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Make sure to check out the latest NAB Show News in our dedicated section or visit the NAB Show website to register for the show.