ENHANCING SECURITY MECHANISMS OF A DRM SYSTEM BASED ON A MODIFIED HOTP ALGORITHM AND INTEGRATED ACCESS BLOCKING TOOLS

Abstract

In the context of the dynamic development of information and communication technologies and the intensive growth of electronic content volumes, the task of ensuring copyright protection and access control to digital resources has become particularly important. The widespread adoption of network services, cloud platforms, multimedia systems, and mobile applications creates additional opportunities for content distribution; however, it simultaneously increases the risks of unauthorized copying, modification, and use. Among the possible approaches to addressing these issues is the use of DRM (Digital Rights Management) systems, which provide a comprehensive, multi-layered mechanism for managing access to digital content by employing tools such as encryption, tokenization, password-based authentication, and others. However, cybercriminals continuously develop increasingly sophisticated methods to bypass DRM protection mechanisms, including cloning hardware keys or compromising software components responsible for access control. In this context, the present study proposes the development of an effective DRM system capable of promptly responding to emerging threats through integration with multi-level access-blocking systems and the use of one-time passwords for dynamically changing USB security keys based on an enhanced Hashed-Based One-Time Password (HOTP) algorithm. The proposed access-blocking system implements a multi-level monitoring mechanism to detect potentially dangerous activities and automatically terminate access upon threat detection. Its functionality includes protection against unauthorized authentication attempts, automatic blocking after exceeding a predefined number of failed login attempts, and the use of multi-factor authentication for access recovery. Furthermore, the enhanced HOTP algorithm integrated into the USB security keys significantly improves the security of the DRM system by generating one-time passwords for each access attempt, thereby greatly reducing the likelihood of interception or reuse. Additionally, the dynamic updating of the secret key after each session provides an extra layer of protection, complicating attacks aimed at compromising USB keys.