FACT (UK)

FACT overview

The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) was formed in 1983 to protect the content, product, and interests of the film and television industries. Copyrighted content comes in many forms—pictures, videos, music, contracts, scripts, workflows, art, architecture, and more—and represents the core assets of many businesses. Piracy threatens to undermine the very existence of these businesses through the unlawful distribution of intellectual property (IP) for illicit gain or market disruption. As production and post-production workflows increasingly move to the cloud, the black market for intellectual property is similarly moving away from physical media toward online resources. FACT investigates cyber crime, fraud, and other IP crime.

Azure and FACT

Note

FACT security certification program is no longer maintained – this article is provided for historical reasons. Azure was the first hyper-scale, multi-tenant public cloud to achieve FACT certification.

To underscore Microsoft’s commitment to protect your copyrighted assets entrusted to the public cloud, Azure has been certified by the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) in the United Kingdom. Azure was the first hyper-scale, multi-tenant public cloud to achieve FACT certification.

FACT security certification provides assurances that an organization is delivering high quality secure processes and solutions. It is based on the ISO/IEC 27001 standard, focusing on physical and digital security, staff screening and training, access control, and other security domains. The FACT content protection and security program draws on expertise across law enforcement, technology partners, and industry associations to fight copyright infringement and content theft, such as peer-to-peer sharing, illegal disc duplication, and signal theft.

Frequently asked questions

Why is FACT important?
Content security is critical for feature film and television development, as there are multiple points along the workflow where digital assets can be compromised or stolen. By passing the FACT audit, Azure provides you with another layer of assurance by helping prevent the illegal distribution and sale of film and television assets.

Does my organization still need to undergo a FACT audit, or can we use the Azure audit?
Compliance with FACT is voluntary, but Microsoft elected to carry out an independent assessment so that you can be confident in the content security and protection capabilities of Azure. However, Microsoft doesn't inspect, approve, or monitor your applications deployed on Azure. Your individual cloud environment isn't managed by Microsoft and may be subject to additional regulation that is best addressed by an individual audit.

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