An efficient key management solution for privacy masking, restoring and user authentication for video surveillance servers

•This paper proposes a key distribution scheme for distributed video surveillance servers.•The scheme introduces security protocols to authenticate multiple privileged users.•The scheme also includes privacy masking and restoration strategies used in case of crimes.•Hierarchical restoration of the privacy masks with different privileges is possible using the proposed scheme.•Security evaluation on the proposed protocols is included in a new section.

In this paper, we surveyed technical elements of video surveillance systems and proposed several countermeasures to effectively manage a number of keys for image encryption, privacy protection and user authentication. In addition, we proposed several solutions for potential problems that could arise when the system adopts a privacy masking policy for each user. The proposed solutions selectively implement a Kerberos approach, a round keys approach and a double hash chain approach. For secure video surveillance systems, protecting privacy and providing accessibility through strong user authentication and prioritized authorization is expected.