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How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

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Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#11

Post by aidenn0 »

mschuster91 wrote: post #5
eternauta3k wrote: post #2

> Nagrastar says Tarnovsky used the code to create a device for reprogramming Nagrastar cards into pirate cards, and gave the cards to pirates eager to steal Dish Network's programming. Tarnovsky was also accused of posting to the internet a detailed road map for hacking Nagrastar's cards. > Nagrastar says NDS had an obvious motive for these antics: Their own chip, the so-called P1 or "F Card," had already been thoro…

> How does increasing piracy of your competitor help you? Pretty easy. Assume I'm an end consumer of the competitor's client stations... and my contract is up for renewal while at the same time I can get a cracked cardfor a hundred dollars, I'd be a fool to renew the contract. Also, the competitor's client stations may decide to drop the competitor (and come to your company), especially if there is a fundamental unfi…

Or more obviously; I'm a purchaser of your product, I tell you I'm going to switch because your cards are hacked, my response is "see, so is the competition" and you don't bother switching.

Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#12

Post by eumoria »

Neil44 wrote: post #8

I remember these from the 90's, we knew someone who dealt them. There was a little card/PCB type hybrid thing and every now and then they'd change something about the encryption and you'd have to go back and get the card re flashed. Eventually they got killed off altogether iirc.

The 'CableCard' system where I lived was pretty big during the TiVO era before cable companies started providing their own DVR systems.

You had to get 2 cards one for each tuner card in the TiVO and they would constantly fail and had endless issues. I was a Cablevision (a New York cable company) technician at the time.

Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#13

Post by wkearney99 »

eumoria wrote: post #12
Neil44 wrote: post #8

I remember these from the 90's, we knew someone who dealt them. There was a little card/PCB type hybrid thing and every now and then they'd change something about the encryption and you'd have to go back and get the card re flashed. Eventually they got killed off altogether iirc.

The 'CableCard' system where I lived was pretty big during the TiVO era before cable companies started providing their own DVR systems. You had to get 2 cards one for each tuner card in the TiVO and they would constantly fail and had endless issues. I was a Cablevision (a New York cable company) technician at the time.

M cards seem reasonably reliable. I've had them in some 4 and 6 tuner Tivos for several years now.

Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#14

Post by at-fates-hands »

alexpotato wrote: post #9

So in the early 2000's, I worked for a firm that was hired by a major satellite TV provider to investigate Smart Card hacking. It was a very eye opening experience for a recent grad and would be happy to write up some of my experiences if people are interested.

I'd love to read about that as well!

Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#15

Post by schoolboard »

Does anybody remember back in the late 80s when we had those BIG satellite dishes that you had to aim from one satellite to another for different stations? We had a chipped card and got some physical mailing every month with a huge code we had to type into the receiver from the remote to receive encrypted signals for that month. A huge pain, but as a bored kid in Nebraska I gladly did it! Anybody know more about that newsletter and how they did it?

Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#16

Post by at-fates-hands »

>> DirecTV periodically deployed electronic countermeasures, or ECMs, in the satellite stream that killed the cards in their set-top boxes. Ereiser needed someone to fix the cards.

I worked for a home theater company from 2000-2002 following the dot com crash. Every single one of our customers had pirated DirecTV cards. I still remember getting calls on a regular basis, "Yeah, I think the card got fried again" and would have one of our techs go out and get their fried cards replaced.

I was pretty shocked how common it was and how a legit business was profiting from giving away satellite tv for free which was obviously illegal. Every time DTV fried the cards, we would charge a card replacement fee and a service charge which was around $30. Nobody ever complained about paying it - as long as their pirated tv continued to work.

Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#18

Post by artjumble »

alexpotato wrote: post #9

So in the early 2000's, I worked for a firm that was hired by a major satellite TV provider to investigate Smart Card hacking. It was a very eye opening experience for a recent grad and would be happy to write up some of my experiences if people are interested.

I would be interested in reading about this.

Around that time (or maybe slightly before) I was asked by my friends dad to figure this out. He and a group of his friends payed for the equipment and gave it to me. I figured it out, but when they found out that the "hack" would be reset at least every month and before any major event they all found it too problematic to deal with. Worked out great for me as I got free satellite TV for a while when I was going to school.

Re: How to Reverse-Engineer a Satellite TV Smart Card (2008)

#19

Post by antorsae »

alexpotato wrote: post #9

So in the early 2000's, I worked for a firm that was hired by a major satellite TV provider to investigate Smart Card hacking. It was a very eye opening experience for a recent grad and would be happy to write up some of my experiences if people are interested.

yes!
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