A Good Read about ECMs;C&P from another site!

 

Silver Member
Username: Pannu16

Post Number: 603
Registered: May-06
With every ECM there is always a fair bit of misinformation about regarding the "new" encryption techniques used, and how it may portend the death of FTA.

With the present difficulties, for instance, the following items of interest have been repeated around the net on various sites:

* This ECM is specifically targeted at FTA
* Multiple MAP call are being used
* A dynamic code is being used
* There is a new timer function


This ECM is specifically targeted at FTA
This is likely true! Card based hacks like plastic, card-sharing, and IKS (Internet Key Sharing, another form of card sharing) access video encryption differently than the emu in FTA firmware. Card solutions simply send encrypted VPID (video packets) to the descrambler chip where the included CW (control word) packets are sent right away to the CAM (conditional access module/card), the answer is sent back and then applied to the video packet. The actual CAM values, apart from definitions and order of the CW gathering commands (i.e., MAP calls) need not be known, as it is all done automatically when requests are sent to the card. FTA firmware on the other hand must know the precise CAM locations and thus order and routine of MAP calls, and this has to be patched into each bin; when this changes a new bin is required where relevant portions of the CAM are emulated.

Multiple MAP calls are being used
This is true, however this is nothing new either. Providers routinely use at least 4 or 5 MAP calls at any given time. MAP calls are intense arithmetic equations that request CWs from the CAM to be sent back to the descrambler. We now have 4e and 4d; there are others in play, but apparently these particular ones are the difficulties (i.e., CAM location unknown).

A dynamic code is being used
"Dynamic" implies changing according to some input. It sounds scary, like a mutating virus, lol. In actuality, "dynamic" is little different that "random" at the level of intense mathematics as the functions and outputs are extremely difficult or impossible to be predicted. By definition, control words are random numbers.

There is a new timer function
Each channel uses different CWs, and this is how now for instance some locals may be viewable and other pay channels remain scrambled. CWs change every few minutes, and this in itself is as secure as practically can be: even an NSA super-cryto computer could not solve an 8-byte algorithm in 2 minutes, lol. CWs have always changed this fast, and all TV providers, even cable, use the same system.

So what is going on?
Nothing radically new, likely. Coders are not crytologists, and even if they were, it would be senseless to attempt decryption on something that changes as quickly as CWs, as mentioned above. And neither can card data be read with any apparent ease (remember all the baloney a year ago about peeling the cards and reading with an electron microscope, hahahahaha, if you believed that one, well, I have some swamp land you may be interested in....). Some CAM locations are known, some are not. ALL of the MAP calls CW answers are currently in the cards and are not changeable, this requires a card swap. What can be changed are the specific MAP calls and their order. These can be read and defined, and even used for card hacking (why IKS is up and running), but FTA is a different story, as mentioned.

Coders must be given specific CAM locations which can be patched into or emulated for FTA binary files. Saying a bin has the "full emu" is ridiculous, as it can't by sheer size limitations, as it would have to run in non-decompressed format. What is needed is a MAP map, as it were, lol. Or at least someone to give directions, like a navigator.

Most of this information is purchased rather than hacked, at least initially. When a group says they have the "full emu", what should be understood is that they have access to the information, and it may be purchased as a service over a period of time. This is rather like calling up customer service plan: you call to say your widget isn't working, and being told to press buttons 1, 2, 3, then A, B, C in that order, you do, it works, but you have no idea why. It seems Viewsat had an arrangement like this after MAP57, they bought a 1 year plan, lol. Others can purchase information on a one-off basis. Or once a bin is released, the bin can be dumped and reverse engineered for patching to different boxes, but this takes a little extra time.

This is good info to help understand things a little more clearly when we're hit with new ECMs.
 

Gold Member
Username: Rtap

FL

Post Number: 1277
Registered: Jan-07
thanks for the info.pannu
 

Silver Member
Username: Birdwatcher

Post Number: 552
Registered: Jul-06
Who gives a fu.ck how they work as long as my box works. Who knows how a posi-traction works, it just does...........Joe Dirt.
 

Gold Member
Username: Ke5aqn

IF I DONT KNOW THE ANSWER, I WILL FIND...

Post Number: 1421
Registered: Sep-06
I for one was glad to see this posted here. I have not read that description of the encryption techniques used in the ECM.

so, Thanks
 

Gold Member
Username: Nydas

Post Number: 5613
Registered: Jun-06
Nalin Nyda
Gold Member
Username: Nydas

Post Number: 5570
Registered: Jun-06

Posted on Sunday, December 02, 2007 - 11:10 pm:
The 0106 ID keys are treated differently from 0101 ID keys. The coders must have known it and hence did not give a manual input and even when they did, it was not satisfactory.
Now they have an open source code to draw from. (See Emanation release) The "evaluate and execute" type of dynamic code requires interpretation on the fly and that too is not beyond the capabilities of the coders. The only unknown quantity is time - time taken to do what is required to be done. The code in the cards executes faster than in the flash rom of receivers.
The time taken to come out with the new BIN suggests to me that the coders have the upper hand again for the time being. They have had to dig properly into the software instead of quick patches.

This is all theoretical.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Bushdaman

Post Number: 24
Registered: Nov-07
how come i posted the same exact info yest. and its gone???????????????????
 

New member
Username: Firebreather

Post Number: 2
Registered: Dec-07
I give a f|_|ck how it works. Knowing how it works is the first step in fixing it when it no longer works. See how that works?

And BTW, I know how positraction works - I read about it on a forum
 

Bronze Member
Username: Bushdaman

Post Number: 25
Registered: Nov-07
oh wait i found it just for the record thats all:https://www.ecoustics.com/cgi-bin/bbs/show.pl?tpc=2&post=1334944#POST1334944
 

Bronze Member
Username: Tekila2006

Post Number: 25
Registered: Aug-07
A guy who build shield also build sword.
 

Silver Member
Username: Pulp_fiction

Post Number: 505
Registered: Nov-07
Over on IRC they saying Bev starting new game today....


mecm

 

Gold Member
Username: Carguy

Post Number: 6689
Registered: Nov-04
Where on IRC?
 

Silver Member
Username: Pannu16

Post Number: 604
Registered: May-06
No problem guys , i try to share info, got that from another site but was good info!!

And yeah sup with BEV wats the new game they r playin now!! Any new info please share!!
 

Silver Member
Username: Pulp_fiction

Post Number: 509
Registered: Nov-07
https://www.ecoustics.com/electronics/forum/home-video/411005.html
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