Tech: Encryption and Satellites (re: GI)

We need to learn more about these technology and if
any are based on Clipper:

As reported in the April 11th issue of Electronic Media:

The satellite pirates are finally getting the message...
owners of satellite dishes and unauthorized decoding
technology are converting to authorized equipment in
droves...

Key pay cable providers are now going though the second stage
of moving from General Instrument's Video Cipher II (VC II)
encryption system to its more secure VideoCipher Renewable 
Security (VCRS) system.

Adopting VCRS are HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, TMC, Viewer's choice,
REquest TV, Playboy channel, Spice, and Netlink. Netline offers
three superstations.

"There have been 30,000 to 40,000 conversion customers
a month for the past for months."

Meanwhile, with the digital era in mind, Primestar Partners
is preparing to move its DBS (direct broadcast satellite)
from Scientific-Atlanta's analog B-Mac encryption to 
General Instrument's DigiCipher digital compression
technology, which also provides teh most recent security
meansures.

Primstar expects to start phasing in DigiCipher in January.
"We have the ability to make changes to the security as we
move forward."

The French pay TV service Canal Plus International is
developing its own digital system in association with
broadcasters in Germany and spain. Hughes' (hi Eric),
DIRECTV plans to launch next year with News Datacom
Conditional Acesss and Authorization Control system...

A spokesperson for New Datacom said the basis for the
technology is an algorithm with an efficient
proof-of-identity scheme. .... have products for
both analog and digital encryption.
Harry Shapiro Hawk
Manager of Computer Services
Warwick Baker & Fiore              habs@uucp.warwick.com

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> Key pay cable providers are now going though the second stage
> of moving from General Instrument's Video Cipher II (VC II)
> encryption system to its more secure VideoCipher Renewable 
> Security (VCRS) system.

VCII and VCII+ both use DES. VC/RS uses a plug-in card; right now the
RS cards are all still DES. An interesting note is that the VC family
uses digital sound and encrypts it. You can allegedly reconstruct the
vertical sync signal and get watchable pictures, but for sound you
either need to break DES or exploit a system vulnerability.

> Adopting VCRS are HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, TMC, Viewer's choice,
> REquest TV, Playboy channel, Spice, and Netlink. Netlink offers
> three superstations.

All of the above are presently VCII+ customers.

There were several such design and implementation vulnerabilities in
the VCII system, and they were quickly exploited by pirates. As a
counter, GI introduced the VCII+, which has fewer vulnerabilities and
has not yet (AFAIK) been "broken". (n.b. I know that the use of
"wizard codes", or master keys, still continues, but I don't really
count that as a break.)

> "There have been 30,000 to 40,000 conversion customers
> a month for the past for months."

Part of the reason behind the conversion is necessity. Programmers
were downlinking both VCII and VCII+ authorization datastreams for a
while. When VC/RS became available, some programmers switched over to
downlinking VCII+ and VC/RS. When the VCII+ datastreams go dark, VCII+
descramblers won't work.

> Meanwhile, with the digital era in mind, Primestar Partners
> is preparing to move its DBS (direct broadcast satellite)
> from Scientific-Atlanta's analog B-Mac encryption to 
> General Instrument's DigiCipher digital compression
> technology, which also provides teh most recent security
> meansures.

GI has been very, very tightlipped about any of the compression or
encryption technology behind DigiCipher.

- -Paul

- -- 
Paul Robichaux, KD4JZG      | Out the 10Base-T port, through the router, 
perobich@ingr.com           | over the leased line, off the bridge, past
Intergraph Federal Systems  | the firewall... nothing but net.
	       Of course I don't speak for Intergraph.

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