Notorious hacker Chris Tarnovsky opens his underground laboratory to WIRED, providing a peek into the world of satellite television smart-card hacking. This complicated process involves nail polish, a pin head and various acids - so don't try this at home (unless you're Chris Tarnovsky)! Chances are you won't even know what's going on here, but that's not going to stop you from watching this. Upcom Technologies’ line of Advanced HD/SD Integrated Receivers are designed with ease of use and reliability in mind. Most advanced features found as optional on.
Decode all MPEG2/DVB Tables and Descriptors, use it to watch & record TV or create your own IPTV Streams !
StreamGuru Analyzer Demo.zip
GkWare e.K.
Shareware ($249.00)
1.2 Mb
WinXP, Windows2000, Windows2003, Windows Vista
The StreamGuru MPEG Analyzer allows you to check every aspect of MPEG, DVB and ATSI transport streams. Core Features Include: Decoding of all SI tables and descriptors defined in ISO 13818-1 MPEG-2 Decoding of all DVB SI tables and descriptors. ...
DVB Portal TV Viewer is a Windows速 based application that uses the latest technologies to experience digital TV right on your desktop. The product empowers viewers to watch live DVD quality MPEG2 video and audio on PCs using a low-budget PCI card. ...
dvbportal-setup-1.6.exe
DVB Portal
Freeware (Free)
1.06 Mb
Windows XP, 2000
An Audacious input plugin that enables Audacious to play and record audio streams from a DVB-S/-T/-C Adapter. audacious-dvb is based on Christian Motz's XMMS DVB Input. ...
audacious-dvb-0.8.2.tar.gz
audacious-dvb
Freeware (Free)
366 Kb
Linux
A set of java libraries and applications to capture and save and distribute a DVB stream on a Linux box with a DVB-T A set of java libraries and applications to capture and save and distribute a DVB stream on a Linux box with a DVB-T card..
dvbcentral-0.66-src.zip
dvbcentral
Freeware (Free)
5.13 Mb
Linux
dvbd is a daemon to manage your DVB cards. It supports scheduling, multiple simultaneous connections and priorities..
dvbd-0.7.7.tar.gz
dvbd
Freeware (Free)
418 Kb
BSD; Linux
Real time capable implementation of the DVB-T standard in Real time capable implementation of the DVB-T standard in C..
dvbotc-0.5.tar.gz
dvbotc
Freeware (Free)
1.11 Mb
Linux
DVB translator is a tool which allows analyses of transport stream DVB translator is a tool which allows analyses of transport stream packets.
Setup.msi
sourceforge
Freeware (Free)
945 Kb
Windows
LIMBOS is a LInux setup enabling reception of Mobile Broadcast (DVB-H) through Online Streaming. Reception via standard DVB-T receiver (USB) and retransmission with Darwin Streaming Server. Additional: MCREFLECT - a small multicast IP. ...
LIMBOS_v01.html.zip
limbos
Freeware (Free)
6 Kb
Linux
European digital radio & television uses the DVB standard to broadcast its data. Project X gives you a look behind the transmissions and tries its best to handle & repair many stream types and shows what went wrong on. ...
ProjectX_0.91.0.zip
project-x
Freeware (Free)
2.42 Mb
Windows; Mac; Linux
A XMMS input plugin that enables XMMS to directly play and record audio streams from a DVB-S A XMMS input plugin that enables XMMS to directly play and record audio streams from a DVB-S PCI-Adapter..
xmms-dvb-0.5.0.tar.gz
xmms-dvb
Freeware (Free)
324 Kb
BSD; Linux
The Project is creating middleware and applicaton layer for building aSet-Top Box.The software is independent of hardware or Platform.It will fit in any embedded platform supporting DVB standard. ...
STB-DVB
Kishore
Freeware (Free)
Windows
Related:Conax Dvb - Conax Dvb S Codec Master - Alcor Driver Dtv Conax - Dvb T Dvb S Sweex Drawers - Dvb On Dvb C
Pages : 1 | 2 | 3>
Over the last couple of days a small furore has erupted over allegations a News Corp subsidiary, NDS, has been hacking the pay-TV smartcards of News Corp’s competitors, and even News Corp’s own companies – allegations that NDS vigorously denies.
I’m not going to speculate on the reasons why a supplier of Conditional Access Systems – the technology that allows paid-TV providers to restrict access to their broadcasts – would want to undermine the security of their own product; but I am going to discuss how such systems work, and how secure they are.
A Conditional Access Module (CAM) is a combination of encryption keys, smartcards and electronics and computer code inside a satellite or cable-TV receiver (or “decoder”).
The pay-TV provider encrypts the digital signal sent to the subscriber with an encryption key. The subscriber plugs a smartcard into his/her decoder, which decrypts the signal so programs and films can be displayed on the screen. Some decoders have the smartcard built-in already, so there is no external slot.
The smartcard is a plastic card with a chip - much like a modern credit card. You can see electrical contacts on the chip. When the card is inserted, the chip is plugged into the decoder, allowing the CAM to get the decryption key. Other information is also stored on the chip – subscriber ID, subscription details, billing details, censorship filters and so on.
We don’t really know what’s there unless we hack into the chip, because it’s all kept secret. Each chip will have it’s own non-volatile memory (requires no battery), computer programs and a small central processing unit (CPU).
The security of the system depends on a few things:
secrecy of the encryption algorithm
secrecy of the keys
secrecy of the hardware.
So let’s start with the algorithm. An algorithm is a recipe for doing something – in this case, for scrambling and descrambling the digital signal.
Some CAM providers write their own algorithm, and depend on it remaining a secret. That’s a bit like hiding your door key inside a brick or under a flower pot – once the secret (that the key is in the brick) is discovered, you have no security. DVD security works this way.
A much better approach is to keep the key with you (a secret key). Everybody knows how your door security works (you put the right key in the lock and turn), but that only works if you have the key. If your lock (algorithm) is faulty, you’ll find out quickly enough and replace the lock. Of course, Pay-TV subscribers would have to remember the key, and have to enter it into their decoder - very inconvenient, but very safe.
Foxtel uses Irdeto 5 CAMs. These use 3DES encryption - a reasonably complex encryption algorithm that’s difficult to crack without employing lots of supercomputers. 3DES is a known algorithm - it has been tested for years and, if implemented correctly, will be safe.
And the security of the decryption key? That’s stored on the chip in the smartcard. Not so good. Just like hiding it inside a (very thin) brick. 3DES is a symmetric-key algorithm, which means you use the same key to encrypt and decrypt. If hackers can open up the card and get to the key, they can extract the key and use it to make cloned cards.
This leads us to the secrecy of the hardware. Four years ago, Wired magazine posted a YouTube video (see below) showing Chris Tarnovsky demonstrating how to extract the chip from a smartcard, and access the electrical signals.
Reprogramming the card to display its stored data (including the decryption key) is the next step. Modern cards are better, but the techniques for getting into them are also better.
It’s not even necessary to open up the card. Many digital TV watchers use techniques such as card sharing or internet key sharing to spread the cost of a Pay-TV subscription among tens or hundreds of people.
And you can buy blank smartcards online from places such as Alibaba.com for a few cents each. There are also dedicated forums online to help would-be criminals access satellite TV and Pay-TV without a subscription.
Just Google terms such asIrdeto 5 hacks, Sat Universe and MOSC (Modified Original Smart Card).
So just as with modding Xboxes (circumventing the built-in security mechanisms of the Xbox and Xbox 360 videogame consoles), rooting Android (gaining “superuser” permissions to your Android device’s software) and jailbreaking iPhones (gaining root access to Apple’s operating system), pay-TV piracy/hacking is happening now.
The information is out there and is easy to access. Of course, anyone attempting to use the information has to be technically capable and adventurous.
Is it being done on an industrial scale? Perhaps in places such as China or South America. A lot of the hardware which enables or supports unlawful access to IT systems (e.g. ATM card skimming – the illegal copying of information from the magnetic strip of a credit or ATM card) appears to be coming from those regions.
The Chinese government is trying to stop hacking and the systems which support it. My opinion is that the skills required (to hack these smartcards) are beyond most wannabe pirates and hackers.
Besides, it’s much easier just to install the peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol BitTorrent and download any program or film you want.