RED-Key (security proposal for RED cameras)

[Peter Majtan]

Couple of Red One cameras have been stolen in Boston. We have been discussing the issue in that thread (sorry about the hijack) and I came up with an idea for a RED-Key. It would require an additional SD card slot (which is included on RED One), but that should be rather easy. Here is the idea:

1. Unless the owner activates it - business as usual (and camera is UNPROTECTED). This is for those paranoid that this could fail during crucial shoot...
2. Inserting the dedicated SD card before booting will add to the UI a security submenu to ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE and administer the "time-lock"
3. Owner can in the UI select the time period (or # of boots, etc...) after which the camera will lock - unless the dedicated SD card is inserted.
4. There could also be an option that the camera will simply not boot without a "key" SD card in place (I haven't seen anyone using the SD slot anyway).

Here's a sample boot sequence:

The key for this to work will be to make sure the owner takes the SD card out of the slot after each shoot (or simply de-activates the RED-Key, but this would render the camera unprotected) and stores it away from the camera gear (in a wallet for example - or in that RED bling Jim has rendered recently ).

When You renting to someone You know and trust - You can simply give them a "temp" SD card (along with appropriate handling instructions), or set a conservative # of boots (or time period).

When You renting to a "new face" - You keep the SD card and set less conservative # of boots (or time period).

The time period will highly depend on the RED's ability to include an internal clock. When reset (by removing the dedicated "watch" battery, etc...) - it activates the camera lock until the SD card is inserted. A "low-battery" warning for the "watch" battery will also prevent an accidental lock due to discharge of the battery. Canon's cameras have this built-in.

When combined with an "ID code" embedded in the RAW files (and the SW solution I was proposing earlier in the same REDUSER thread) along with the geo-tagging GPS chip - it will make the camera pretty much worthless for steeling.

Just one more thing: The SD card will be generated by each individual owner on his PC (therefore one could easily generate a new one if the SD card is lost). The PC SW will also allow a completely new SD security card to be generated once the camera is unlocked after the SD card loss - this would prevent anyone who "find" the old SD card to use it with the camera...

Off course RED could have a (highly secured) MASTER SD card SW - that could generate a master SD card for each individual camera based on its serial number, that would unlock the camera in case that the owner has lost both his SD card and the PC...

Just my two pesos...

Peter

 

[Peter Majtan]

Reserved for any updates and summary of feedback from RED...

 

[Gunleik Groven]

hm... and what happens when you re-install the firmware?
OR get f. ex. build 16-18 from the net?

I think having a serial# in the files would make a lot of sense, but this...
Not so sure.

 

[Kwan Khan]

Very well done peter..

 

[Peter Majtan]

hm... and what happens when you re-install the firmware?
OR get f. ex. build 16-18 from the net?

I think having a serial# in the files would make a lot of sense, but this...
Not so sure.

This IS (or rather should be) built-in into the actual FIRMWARE. I think that after B-16 You can't go back to older ones - so only the new Builds from B-16 will need to be modified.

Also - the first firmware to have this officially included could prevent the loading of the previous firmwares that don't have the RED-Key implemented.

Peter

 

[Peter Majtan]

How robust would the protection be? In other words, if the thieves are savvy enough and know their way around all things computer related, would it be possible to deactivate this with a little know-how? Or could it be built in a way that is relatively bullet-proof?

Unless they have RED-SDK (not to be mistaken with R3D-SDK), this is bullet-proof. Especially when blocking the ability to load previous firmwares without the RED-Key implemented.

So once You activate it to protect Your camera - there is no going back to older firmwares. If there will be a huge demand for access to the older firmwares - RED could release "mildly" updated "secured" versions of those builds with the RED-Key implemented...

Peter

EDIT: Just to clarify. You will be able to go back to older builds that have the RED-Key implemented. Those could be also automatically set to # of boots "0" - therefore requiring the RED-Key SD card in order to install the previous (but modified) build. The unmodified builds without the protection will simply not load at all...

Peter

 

[Roberto Lequeux]

Good job Peter!

Hope it is implemented in some form and hope all who stole R1's get run over by trucks.

 

[Peter Majtan]

Kevin (and anyone else choosing NO in the poll) - would You please elaborate why NOT? If You have any valid reason, we could address it with a solution. And please remember - You do not need to activate this security function, in which case Your Red One will function as usual, just unprotected... So I really don't see why would anyone say NO without specifying valid concern...

Peter

 

[Tony Lorentzen]

Wonderful idea. I've been an advocate of some sort of protection circuitry or security software implementations like this since the early days. I'm sure RED is listening to this.

 

[Curran Giddens]

I voted NO because it would make the RED cameras that I'm planning on stealing useless.

:gun:


ha ha. j/k. I think the RED-Key idea is brilliant!
I don't see why anyone would vote NO.

 

[Charles Angus]

Sounds good to me. Why doesn't everything (expensive) have this?

 

[Leo Ticheli]

Bravo, Peter!

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo

 

[Conrad Hunziker]

I think basing it on the number of boots is problematic. Ive been on a number of shoots where the camera would spontaneously reboot or the battery would become dislodged (yes, handheld running into a door frame). So an owner would need to set this number to be rather high or be VERY available at all times to come to wherever to reset the camera. It would really suck when the camera is hundreds of miles away and you see the warning message about the last boot. There really is no way to guess how many times a camera will be re-booted in any time frame - could be once a day or 50 (yes, Ive done at least 30 boots on one day).

I would rather see it based on a time/date function. Say the user is going to rent the camera for a week. Set the security function to 8 days. Then after that the card is needed. In this case, the owner will at least know WHEN they will be needed around with the key.

But the date is user setable, you say. Sure - it is in the UNLOCKED version. The security feature could simply disable this menu when in secure mode. You really should need to set the time in the camera anyways, beyond the timezone.

Thats my only caveat to the plan. Otherwise, sounds good.

 

[Leaf Baimbridge]

Has anyone considered reviewing their rental procedures? The camera's are not the only thing being stolen. There's no way to put a security system on things like lenses, batteries, tripods and any other equipment that goes out. Thieves don't pick places to steal from at random, it's likely the rental houses involved were picked well in advance for one reason or another. Thieves look for weaknesses in security or procedure and exploit them. I think having a key system for the RED ONE could deter a lot of rentals if they have to keep going through camera security codes and calling in for codes etc as suggested. I think the best way to deter thievery is to have stricter rental procedures. I don't know the rental companies that have been ripped off or their procedures for renting out their equipment so don't take this as a criticism.

 

[chuck colburn]

Panavision use to tell thieves to just keep the camera/lenses. There were very few ways they could be sold or used in production in most countries. This is what insurance is for.

 

[ericyoung]

I agree with Photocon. It should be time and not boot number based. In secure mode, clock can't be reset from the menus.

 

[Peter Majtan]

I did suggest in the initial post to be time-based. It's just time locks have a way to be overridden. Maybe when time & date are more secured - the owner could chose which type of "lock" he wants to activate. You could even combine both for safety. Give it a time-lock for the rental period + X days (based on Your judgement) and very conservative # of boots (say 50/day * rental days + X days). That way if someone actually steels the camera, it will eventually run out of boots even if he somehow managed to mess with the time & date...

Leaf - You are right about tightening the rental procedures. But I don't think this (RED-Key) will become a nuisance or deterrent for rentals - certainly not as much as the stricter rental policies. This could be implemented rather transparently and with minimum impact on normal use...

Peter

 

[Martin Weiss]

Anything that makes my camera useless to a thief, but has a 0% possiblity of making my camera useless to myself will get my vote (and some dollars, too.).

Another solution that would not require changes to the camera would be to embed the security check into RedAlert/RedCine. Since the serial number is part of the meta data, it could trigger an alert if the footage stems from a camera that is marked as "stolen". The software would continue to work, but display a warning/watermark on export. (It might even "phone home" the IP number to RED.)

Benefits: This would work for cameras already stolen. No possible downtime on-set due to a false positive. But full embarrassment when using a stolen camera in a professional post house - or maybe even the Red Ray?

This would severly limit the resale value of a stolen camera, as it will essentially only be usable for home use.

 

[Peter Majtan]

Martin - I have suggested this to Brent in the other thread as well. This could work well in conjunction with the RED-Key. The only problems is that unlike firmware - the thieves could use current versions of the RED SW available for download. This could be dealt with in a similar way as the RED-Key with future Build support. You will basically need new (protected) version of RedAlert & RedCine to open anything from Build-18 (release) onwards... This will also prevent the thieves to load up the new Builds along with the new SW...

Peter

 

[Giancarlo Bianchi]

Benefits: This would work for cameras already stolen. No possible downtime on-set due to a false positive. But full embarrassment when using a stolen camera in a professional post house - or maybe even the Red Ray?

To Moderators: We should make a Sticky with the cameras serial numbers that have been stolen up to date, just in case any of us redusers worldwide come across one.