MediaGuard Continuity Plan for Lebanon Conflict
Given the recent escalaction in Gaza, we perceive an escalating risk of military conflict between Israel and Lebanon.
We're concerned that many media outlets, despite having business continuity plans, may be underestimating the scale of a potential conflict.
In response, we are redoubling our efforts through our MediaGuard program, which has been steadfastly supporting journalists and media organizations for the past 18 months—all at no cost.
The MediaGuard program exemplifies our commitment to fortifying media organizations worldwide by offering a range of customized, free-of-charge services such as backhaul support, downlinking, digital streaming, and content distribution.
Central to MediaGuard's mission is aiding media organizations in achieving and maintaining operational stability. Consequently, P Foundation is extending various specialized services through MediaGuard in the event of conflict, also free of charge.
For TV Broadcasters
Backbone and Playout Support
Although an internet blackout may not occur immediately, we anticipate that it could become a reality if the conflict lasts longer than 30 days.
While most tv broadcaster in Lebanon use IP for their backhaul, we believe they all also maintain a satellite backup. We urge all broadcasters to ensure that their satellite backup is operational.
In addition to the satellite backup, we have expanded our computing capacities in both London and New York which would allow us to allocate enough resources for all broadcasters to maintain a backup playout in case of emergency. We recommend that you upload backup content from now instead of waiting for last minute. Please communicate your requirements to your contact point, and we will allocate the necessary resources.
Our infrastructure includes Zixi encoders in both locations and we maintains an open channel with Arabsat NOC, enabling broadcasters to switch to a backup within minutes of any outage.
Live Streaming
Live broadcasts are crucial news sources during conflicts.
We strongly recommend that media organizations shift their digital streaming to utilize offshore facilities. If you don't have one ready, our Spain-based facilities can downlink most beams from Arabsat and Nilesat, and we are able to allocate resources for you to stream from there. Please reach out to your contact point at PF to arrange.
We are also enabling our MediaGuard dashboard for all broadcasters to downlink their feeds and restream them to their content distribution partners and social platforms.
With an anticipated surge in online viewership, we advise broadcasters to expand their live streaming to additional platforms like YouTube, Rumble, and X.
For those experiencing growing viewership on their proprietary platforms and unable to switch to others, we've partnere with multiple CDNs and we are able to increase the free content distribution limit from 100TB a month to 1PB.
For Broadcasters, Print and Online Media
Increased attacks
It is typical for any military conflict to extend to the cyberspace, and this was evident in Gaza and Israel past few days. We expect the same to happen in Lebanon.
Along with traditional DDOS attack, we expect an increase in phishing attacks on journalists and media organizations. We urge all media organizations to be extra vigilant and send a reminder to all staff to be extra cautious when opening emails and clicking on links, specially their digital teams.
While most organisations already use Cloudflare, we believe some have had security gaps that left their origins exposed and vulnerable to attacks. If you are not sure about your security setup, please reach out to your contact point at PF and we will help you assess your setup and make the necessary changes.
We recommend that you increase your replication resources or maintain hourly backups. If your provider support ransom protection, that we definitely recommend that you enable it.
In addition, we have increased our capacity in DC, and we are able to accomodate most media platforms. If you think that you are likely to be targeted and you prefer to move your website to our isolated infrastructure, please reach out to your contact points at PF and we will help you with the migration.
Shared Working Space
We recognize that not all media organizations have their own facilities or contingency plans. To address this, we've set up a 300-square-meter shared working space in a designated "safe area."
Designed to accommodate 35-40 people at a time, the space has sufficient diesel reserves to offer continuous power for up to 45 days. It also features multiple backhauls to ensure a stable internet connection.
Though the facility is open to all journalists, we request that you contact us via Discord or email (mediaguard@p.foundation) and include copies of IDs or Passports for those planning to use the facility.