Built for the slate, not the spreadsheet
Studios and vendors cannot pause a tentpole for a noisy scan. We schedule around ingest, editorial lock, VFX delivery, and release windows, and we test without disrupting live pipelines.
Offensive security for film
Penetration testing for film studios and the people who build their pictures.
Web application, network, cloud, and AI assessments designed around production calendars, unreleased content, and the security standards studios expect of their vendors.
Custodimus quod narratur
The practice
A small firm that understands the lot.
Content is the asset
A leaked cut, a ransomed render farm, or a compromised vendor VPN is not a generic IT incident. Engagements are scoped to protect unreleased work, production systems, and the trust of distributors.
Evidence studios will accept
Reports are written for security teams, production executives, and auditors. Findings map to studio content-security expectations, including MPA-aligned controls and Trusted Partner Network (TPN) evidence packs.
Senior testers only
No offshore factories, no scan-and-PDF mills. You work with the people who actually break the systems — before and after the report.
Capabilities
Four disciplines. One studio-ready programme.
Web application
Production portals, DAM and MAM interfaces, vendor collaboration tools, streaming consoles, rights systems, and internal apps. Manual testing against OWASP and studio-specific business logic.
- Authenticated and unauthenticated assessments
- API and multi-tenant isolation tests
- SSO, DRM admin, and entitlement flaws
Network
Studio lots, post houses, editorial suites, and remote production networks. External perimeter, internal assumed-breach, wireless, and segmentation between production and corporate environments.
- External and internal infrastructure tests
- Vendor VPN and jump-host review
- Render farm and storage network exposure
Cloud
AWS, Azure, and GCP pipelines used for dailies, editorial, VFX, and distribution. Identity, storage, media workflows, and misconfigured buckets that leak unfinished work.
- Cloud configuration and IAM review
- Object storage and media pipeline tests
- CI/CD and transfer-path assessments
AI
Generative tools now sit inside story, VFX, and post. We test model endpoints, prompt-injection surfaces, training-data exposure, and the systems that wrap studio AI platforms.
- Application and API tests around LLM services
- Data-leakage and isolation checks
- Abuse of studio-facing AI assistants
Studio requirements
Assessments that stand up in a lot security review.
Major studios and streamers expect vendors to prove that production systems have been independently tested. We design engagements so the output can be used in content-security questionnaires, TPN assessments, and contractual security schedules.
- Aligned to MPA content security best practices
- Evidence suitable for TPN Clear / Silver / Gold programmes
- SOC 2, ISO 27001, and studio rider mapping in the report
- Retest windows before a shoot or delivery date
- Zero-drama handling of unreleased titles and NDAs
Vendor ecosystem
The weakest link is rarely the studio itself.
Post houses, VFX, animation, dailies, camera houses, finishing, and freelance editorial all touch the same picture. We test the connections studios grant their partners — and help vendors arrive at a pitch already able to answer “when was your last pen test?”
VFX & animation
Post & finishing
Dailies & DI
Camera & grip vendors
Cloud editorial
Distribution partners
Enquire
Tell us the slate, the systems, and the deadline.
Enquiries: pentest@backlotworks.com · London & remote lot coverage