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New 09 Smart Card From Sky

It  appears that Sky and News Datacom are to bring in a new  smart 
card in time for the April 1994 Cable and Satellite Show. The move 
is  surprising  considering  the events of the  last  few  months.
 
The  new 09 Sky card is believed to  dark blue in colour with  the 
Sky logo in yellow. Some people who have received their new  cards 
have  remarked on the similarity to something that KYTV would  put 
out. 

The new smart card already has acquired the nick name of the "John 
Player  Specials"  after the brand of cigarettes. No  doubt  there 
will  be some very witty pirate advertising on the theme of  death 
and smoking.

At this point in time the actual chip used in the 09 smart card is 
not  known. It is rumoured that the smart card is using  the  same 
chip  as  the 07 smart card. If this is indeed the case,  then  it 
appears that Sky and News Datacom believe that the security of the 
07  smart card was not compromised. Of course there could be  some 
added traps in the new smart card designed specifically to prevent 
reverse-engineering or analysis.

Admittedly  their system has been truly and  utterly  compromised. 
Each  of  the ECMs implemented on their system seems to  have  had 
minimal  effect  on  the pirate smart card  market.  Some  of  the 
hackers  have come up with the solution to the ECMs within  a  few 
minutes  of their implementation. This did not look good  for  Sky 
and News Datacom.

The theory on the new smart card was that it was to be launched in 
August  with  a complete switch-over occurring  in  November.  The 
counsel for Sky in the Irish High Court stated that it would  have 
been  November before Sky could introduce a new smart  card.  This 
change of tack has been strange to say the least.

The  first  hints that Sky were about to launch a new  card  issue 
filtered  through in January. Some of the hacked channels  were  a 
bit  more  reassured. Perhaps soon their problems would  be  over. 

Among  the hardest hit of these was TV Asia. The  European  market 
for this channel was being thoroughly being exploited. TV Asia are 
part  of  the Sky tier and have no separate card.  While  in  some 
senses this is a sound economical move, it has tied them into  the 
fate  of  the Sky channels. When Sky was hacked, TV Asia  fell  by 
default.

The Adult Channel was also heavily affected by the piracy.  Though 
the smart cards for this channel are legitimately available in the 
UK and Ireland for fifty pounds, the channel was still hacked. The 
programming  on this channel is only "adult" by UK  standards.  In 
the rest of Europe, the channel is not considered to be hard core. 
As  a  result  Red Hot Television had a ready  market.  

The Adult Channel did however upgrade to a new card issue recently 
but the new code table was quickly established. It is perhaps  the 
one  channel that will continue to be hacked despite a new 09  Sky 
smart card. The reason is that the Adult Channel uses a  different 
smart card.

The  new  09 smart card has apparently been  in  production  since 
November  or  so of last year. The problem with  piracy  has  been 
brought home to Sky with their defeat in the Irish High Court. The 
path of action does somehow seem muddled in light of the new  card 
release.  If they were going to bring out a new card issue was  it 
really  worth  the risk of losing money and credibility  in  doing 
battle in the courts?


France Telecom Wins Injunction Against Megasat In Germany

France  Telecom  took  legal  action  against  hacker  smart  card 
manufacturers,  Megasat. The court hearing was held  on  Wednesday 
March 16th and was over in about half an hour. The decision of the 
court  was questionable. According to some sources France  Telecom 
based  their claim on the fact that a number in their smart  cards 
had been partially found in the Megasat card.

The  number apparently was a number that was not yet used  in  the 
D2-MAC  EuroCrypt  system.  Therefore  France  Telecom  drew   the 
conclusion  that the Megasat card had infringed the  copyright  of 
their smart card program. However it was not that simple.

Apparently  France  Telecom  had  been working  hard  to  get  the 
software  in the Megasat card dumped. Again according to  sources, 
they  had  only found half of their number.  Strangely  the  court 
ruled in France Telecom's favour. 

This injunction that the court granted stops Megasat in trading in 
D2-MAC  cards  until  the case comes to trial.  However  the  main 
market for Megasat is in the Sky cards.

This  decision  is a somewhat hollow victory for  France  Telecom. 
There  are other manufacturers of hacker D2-MAC cards. The  market 
is  presently so unsettled that if France Telecom go  after  other 
manufacturers  there may be a tactical release. The term  is  from 
Nuclear War theory and the effect on D2-MAC would be similar.  the 
software  for the hack may be released on to bulletin  boards  all 
over Europe.


Canal Plus ECM Successful

In a bid to stem the flow of piracy on their channels, Canal  Plus 
implemented  an  electronic  countermeasure.  The  effect  on  the 
growing  hacker  smart card market has been devastating.  The  ECM 
apparently  affected  all makes of hacker smart cards.  

The  prime reason for the popularity of Canal Plus  among  English 
speaking  viewers is not that they want to learn to speak  French. 
The  prime  reason is that Canal Plus screens hard core  porn.  It 
would appear that the Adult Channel is not hard core enough. 

The  EuroCrypt-M system as used by Canal Plus, FilmNet and  TV1000 
is more complex and more upgradable than VideoCrypt. Perhaps as  a 
direct  result  of this complexity, the chip used for  the  hacker 
cards  is the PIC16C57. The PIC16C57 is a  One  Time  Programmable 
version  and  when there is an ECM, the chip is binned.  The  chip 
also has a greater memory capacity than the PIC16C54.


New Hacker Smart Card Deals With ECMs

The  latest Hacker smart card from Satellite Decoding Systems  for 
the  VideoCrypt  system will cope with all of the known  ECMs.  It 
includes  a  touch  sensitive pad which allows the  card  to  step 
through  the ECMs. The name for the new card is the  Magic  Touch. 
Some hackers have called it "Digital Democracy" as they say it  is 
giving the finger to Sky.

Naturally  Sky  and  News Datacom will  not  appreciate  this  new 
device.  Though the 09 smart cards are still being launched,  this 
new hacker card is reprogrammable.

Satellite  Decoding  Systems have been selling a large  number  of 
smart  cards in Ireland and Europe since winning the  Irish  court 
case. In December it was estimated that Sky had some 15,000  Irish 
subscribers.  This figure would have halved by now as more  people 
are moving towards the hacker cards. 


Black Book 4 To Be Published In April

In late April, the fourth Black Book will be published. The  Black 
Book is also known as European Scrambling Systems. It is the bible 
of the Blackbox Industry.

The new version concentrates on the smart card hacks and how  they 
operate. Details of smart cards and computer monitoring  circuitry 
are  provided.  The  majority of the systems  in  Europe  are  now 
hacked.  Perhaps more importantly it shows how the  present  hacks 
will develop in the near future.

The  chapter  on  cryptology has been expanded  to  cover  message 
digests,  hash  functions and one way functions. The  Fiat  Shamir 
Zero  Knowledge  Test,  allegedly  used  in  VideoCrypt  is  fully 
explained. Details of how crypto systems are hacked are also dealt 
with  in  detail. In the Irish High Court, Sky  and  News  Datacom 
claimed  that they had developed a one way function. This  chapter 
examines  that claim and shows both how a one way  function  works 
and how a crypto system based on a one way function would operate.

The price is 29 Irish pounds including postage in Ireland and  the 
UK.  (Europe 32 pounds including postage) Orders  received  before 
the 22nd of April publication date can avail of the prepublication 
price of 25 Irish pounds. (Ireland, Uk and Europe).