A method for protecting content, comprising receiving, from a client device, a request for an encryption key for encrypting the content comprising a reference associated with the client device, identifying a set of supported security capabilities corresponding to the reference associated with the client device, identifying a set of required security capabilities corresponding to the content associated with the key request, determining if the set of supported security capabilities satisfy the set of required security capabilities, and in response to determining that the supported security capabilities satisfy the set of required security capabilities, transmitting the encryption key to the client device.