#On-premise video redaction: full control over sensitive footage
On-premise redaction means the software runs entirely within your organisation's IT infrastructure.
For organisations handling sensitive footage — healthcare recordings, police bodycam files, workplace incident videos — this is often the deciding factor. Your security team knows exactly where every frame of footage sits, who has accessed it, and how it's protected.
What on-premise redaction gives you:
Data stays behind your firewall.
Unredacted video containing faces, plates and other PII is never uploaded to external servers or transmitted over public networks.No dependency on internet connectivity.
Large CCTV files can be processed without bandwidth constraints or transfer delays.Direct compliance with data sovereignty rules.
Regulations like UK GDPR and sector-specific requirements often mandate that personal data stays within defined boundaries.Full audit trail ownership.
You can control and document who accessed footage, when redaction occurred, and where outputs were stored.Physical access control.
Server rooms, access card systems and environmental monitoring are under your direct management.
The trade-off is that on-premise requires more upfront work compared to cloud solutions. For example, you may need to invest in hardware to match processing requirements for an on-premise video redaction solution (or have longer processing times).
Identity Cloak is an on-premise video redaction solution. Our customers have decided to keep video footage inside their own IT environments for processing, redaction or storage.
#Cloud-based video redaction: convenience vs control tradeoff
Cloud-based redaction tools process footage on remote servers managed by a third-party provider. You upload an unredacted video, the cloud service applies redaction, and you download the result.
This model offers flexibility — and introduces data security questions. When you upload raw CCTV or bodycam footage to a cloud redaction service, every piece of PII in that video is transmitted to — and temporarily stored on — infrastructure you don't control.
Specific risks for cloud-based video redaction:
Data in transit.
Unredacted footage must travel over the internet to reach the cloud provider's servers. Even with encryption, this expands the attack surface.Multi-tenancy.
Your footage may be processed on shared infrastructure alongside other customers' data.Third-party access.
The provider's staff may have access to the systems where your unredacted video is stored, even temporarily.Concentration risk.
If a cloud provider suffers a breach, every customer using that service is potentially affected.Data residency uncertainty.
Cloud providers may process or replicate data across multiple geographic regions, complicating compliance with UK GDPR or sector-specific data sovereignty rules.Bandwidth and file size.
Security camera footage generates large files. Uploading and downloading these can be slow.
Cloud providers do invest heavily in security — encryption at rest and in transit, DDoS protection, continuous monitoring, multi-factor authentication. The question is whether the risk tradeoff is appropriate for your unredacted video data.
#Private cloud: a middle option
A private cloud is a dedicated cloud environment used exclusively by one organisation. Depending on configuration, it can offer some of the cost benefits of cloud hosting with stronger isolation than a public cloud.
Private clouds can be hosted on-premises or by a third-party provider, but the environment is not shared with other customers. This addresses the multi-tenancy concern and can provide robust access controls, data encryption and auditability.
For organisations that need some cloud flexibility but handle regulated data, a private cloud may be worth evaluating. The key is to verify that the hosting arrangement genuinely meets your requirements.
#Why Facit built Identity Cloak as an on-premise solution
Facit's Identity Cloak runs entirely within your organisation's IT infrastructure.
Identity Cloak automates detection and tracking to redact faces, licence plates, and other PII from CCTV, bodycam and dashcam footage. The entire process — upload, AI detection, redaction, export — happens behind your firewall.
This means:
No cloud transfers of unredacted footage.
The raw video containing PII is never shared or accessed externally.Teams stay in control.
Your staff manage the redaction process from start to finish using an intuitive interface that requires minimal training.
#Identity Cloak feature overview
#Multiple types of footage supported
Identity Cloak handles the full range of video sources organisations typically need to process: CCTV, bodycam, dashcam and mobile phone recordings.
For proprietary formats, a built-in screen recorder can be used to import videos without needing a separate tool.
Automated and manual redaction options for full accuracy
Identity Cloak's AI automatically detects and tracks faces, full bodies, licence plates, and vehicles. Static items like posters or computer monitors can be blurred with a single click using layered blurring, which keeps a person of interest visible even if they walk through a blurred zone.
Audio redaction is also built in. Sensitive spoken information can be redacted directly within the software, without needing a separate audio editing tool.
#Fast redaction speed (with recommended hardware)
The average redaction time on recommended hardware is under 12 minutes per video file, start to finish. For Nottingham City Transport, for example, a 1-minute video clip takes around 8 minutes to process.
#Adjustable blur settings
Not all redaction situations call for the same treatment. With Identity Cloak, you can adjust:
Shape: Choose between circular and elliptical blur tools, or use a custom shape to fit for partially visible signage or screens.
Size: Adjust the radius of the blur zone to cover the subject fully without obscuring surroundings.
Transparency: Set the degree of blur — from light pixelation to full opacity — depending on the nature of the footage.
Keyframes and playback speed: Control how frequently tracking keyframes are placed to improve tracking accuracy for complex or crowded scenes.
The original source file is always left unchanged for data integrity and the compliant, irreversible redacted output is exported as a separate file.
#Cloud vs on-premise for video redaction FAQs
Which is more secure for processing video that contains PII?
On-premise gives you more control over where unredacted footage sits and who can access it. Cloud providers offer strong baseline security, but your raw video must travel to and be stored on their infrastructure. For high-risk footage, on-premise is typically the safer choice.
Can cloud redaction tools meet GDPR requirements?
Yes — if the provider offers appropriate encryption, access controls, data processing agreements and data residency guarantees. But the burden of verifying compliance falls on you as the data controller. On-premise simplifies this because the data never leaves your environment.
What about the shared responsibility model?
In cloud environments, the provider secures the infrastructure while you secure your data, access management and application-level settings. Misconfigurations by either party can create vulnerabilities. With on-premise, your organisation is responsible for everything — which means more work, and also more control.
Is on-premise redaction more expensive?
On-premise may require an upfront investment in hardware. Cloud spreads costs into a subscription model (plus cloud storage costs). Some on-premise solutions like Identity Cloak offer predictable licensing that can be more cost-effective than per-minute pricing, especially at scale.
What are the main risks of cloud-based video redaction?
Here are the main risks of cloud-based video redaction:
Un-redacted footage transmitted over public networks
Multi-tenancy risks on shared infrastructure
Data residency complications across geographic regions
Dependency on the provider's security practices and breach response
What are the main risks of on-premise video redaction?
Here are the main risks of on-premise video redaction:
Requires IT staff to maintain and secure infrastructure
Physical security of server rooms must be maintained
No built-in geographic redundancy (must be planned separately)
Try Identity Cloak for on-premise video redaction
Download Identity Cloak and try it out on your footage for 7 days for free.
If you choose to upgrade, you’ll be able to import and export video files of any size and duration, with pricing determined by the number of exported videos, not minutes (read more about our pricing here).
