ONVIF has released a Release Candidate for its Media Signing Add-on, a draft specification intended to help security video users verify whether surveillance footage has been altered, including by generative AI tools.
The industry group said the add-on provides a standardised method for cryptographically signing encoded video at the point it is created by network video devices such as IP cameras and video encoders. The signing information is designed to link footage to the specific device that produced it and enable verification tools to check whether a signed video sequence remains valid after it has been shared across platforms and services.
Surveillance video is frequently used after incidents in contexts including law enforcement investigations, corporate investigations, insurance claims and court proceedings, where questions about chain of custody and integrity can be central. ONVIF positioned the Media Signing Add-on as a way to support trust in footage as manipulated and AI-generated video becomes more convincing.
“Proving authenticity is central to trust in video. The Media Signing Add-on Release Candidate gives the security industry a standardized method to help counter manipulated video and defend authentic content,” said Leo Levit, Chairman, ONVIF Board of Directors. “Making it an open standard ensures transparency, builds trust and enables investigators, insurers and courts to verify video from different sources using consistent tools and workflow.”
ONVIF said it has also published an open-source implementation of the signing and verification framework on its GitHub repository, alongside test tools, with the aim of making the approach easier for vendors and software developers to implement and review.
The current Release Candidate supports video only, with ONVIF stating support for audio is planned for future versions. To claim conformance with the Media Signing Add-on, ONVIF said a product must also conform to an ONVIF profile.
ONVIF said its members can access the specification and test tools via the ONVIF Member Portal for prototyping and testing, and that it expects to release the final specification at the end of 2026.
Separately, ONVIF said it will address video authenticity in educational programming at GSX 2026 in Atlanta, where ONVIF Ambassador Roberto Licari is scheduled to present “Can Security Video Survive Generative AI?” on September 14.
