Hacked tv still goes on then?

'A man has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for selling illegal TV
set-top boxes online.

The boxes contained hardware which enabled users to watch Virgin Media
television services without subscribing.'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34879832

This sounds like a particular interesting hack. Reading between the lines,
he managed to get hold of some software to do the decryption/sign-in
required to get access to the channels and then managed to find a chinese
manufacturer would could supply boxes that he could run the code on.

I believe the BBC website points out it was an unusual amount of work to go
to for very little reward, even before he got caught.
+++++++++++
"Norman Rowing" wrote in message ...

'A man has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for selling illegal TV
set-top boxes online.

The boxes contained hardware which enabled users to watch Virgin Media
television services without subscribing.'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34879832

On Tue, 24 Nov 2015 08:34:56 -0000, "Paul D Smith"
wrote:

This sounds like a particular interesting hack. Reading between the lines,
he managed to get hold of some software to do the decryption/sign-in
required to get access to the channels and then managed to find a chinese
manufacturer would could supply boxes that he could run the code on.

I believe the BBC website points out it was an unusual amount of work to go
to for very little reward, even before he got caught.
+++++++++++
"Norman Rowing" wrote in message ...

'A man has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for selling illegal TV
set-top boxes online.

The boxes contained hardware which enabled users to watch Virgin Media
television services without subscribing.'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34879832

Everything connected to the VM system is identified by its MAC
address, which must tally with the details stored in the account
before communication is permitted. For TV boxes, the smartcard number
must also tally with details in the account, and must be "paired" in
the account with the particular box it's supposed to work with. Plug a
modem, hub or TV box into a friend's house, or put the wrong smartcard
in the wrong TV box and it won't work.

Anyone hoping to fiddle this system would not only have to decrypt the
TV signals but somehow spoof all those numbers to get the box accepted
on the network, but then how they could achieve this without the
programmes being charged for in the normal way I have no idea. If you
could somehow do all this, it would only be a matter of time before
VMs system software spotted that something didn't tally.

As it says, a lot of work for little reward.

Rod.

On 24/11/2015 10:02, Roderick Stewart wrote:


Everything connected to the VM system is identified by its MAC
address, which must tally with the details stored in the account
before communication is permitted. For TV boxes, the smartcard number
must also tally with details in the account, and must be "paired" in
the account with the particular box it's supposed to work with. Plug a
modem, hub or TV box into a friend's house, or put the wrong smartcard
in the wrong TV box and it won't work.

Anyone hoping to fiddle this system would not only have to decrypt the
TV signals but somehow spoof all those numbers to get the box accepted
on the network, but then how they could achieve this without the
programmes being charged for in the normal way I have no idea.

Just supposing the box was a passive listener and did not communicate
with VM. If it took advantage of the characteristic of the network that
all communications down the cable are received at all taps off that
cable, and the box is clever enough to identify the addressing and
decryption of the individual data streams, then it could theoretically
behave like a Sniffer and extract the channels that the box user wanted
to view without making its own presence known.

It is a bit of a long shot, but such a system would take a while for VM
to detect it.

Jim

So how did they get the cable in without subscribing?
Brian

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Remember, if you don't like where I post
or what I say, you don't have to
read my posts! :-)
"Norman Rowing" wrote in message
...
'A man has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for selling illegal TV
set-top boxes online.

The boxes contained hardware which enabled users to watch Virgin Media
television services without subscribing.'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34879832

On 24/11/2015 14:05, Brian-Gaff wrote:
So how did they get the cable in without subscribing?

The easiest way is to subscribe to broadband only, then add a splitter
and connect the box to the other leg for TV.

I know someone who has internet and TV and the cable coming into the
house has a splitter and then two cables one running to a Tivo and the
other to a modem. That was a bog standard install by Telewest, as it
was at the time.

Jim

On Tue, 24 Nov 2015 12:38:17 +0000, Indy Jess John
wrote:


Everything connected to the VM system is identified by its MAC
address, which must tally with the details stored in the account
before communication is permitted. For TV boxes, the smartcard number
must also tally with details in the account, and must be "paired" in
the account with the particular box it's supposed to work with. Plug a
modem, hub or TV box into a friend's house, or put the wrong smartcard
in the wrong TV box and it won't work.

Anyone hoping to fiddle this system would not only have to decrypt the
TV signals but somehow spoof all those numbers to get the box accepted
on the network, but then how they could achieve this without the
programmes being charged for in the normal way I have no idea.

Just supposing the box was a passive listener and did not communicate
with VM. If it took advantage of the characteristic of the network that
all communications down the cable are received at all taps off that
cable, and the box is clever enough to identify the addressing and
decryption of the individual data streams, then it could theoretically
behave like a Sniffer and extract the channels that the box user wanted
to view without making its own presence known.

It is a bit of a long shot, but such a system would take a while for VM
to detect it.

If you wanted to watch one of their streaming services you'd need to
be able to tell the system what you wanted it to stream.

Rod.

I commented on this thread hours ago mentioning dreamboxes, that comment
hasn't appeared and isn't in my Sent/Outbox/Deleted folders or anywhere
else, very strange!

Kenny

"Martin" wrote in message
...

Probably by connecting via neighbour's connection.

On Tue, 24 Nov 2015 14:05:53 -0000, "Brian-Gaff"
wrote:

So how did they get the cable in without subscribing?
Brian
--

Martin in Zuid Holland

On 24/11/2015 15:25, Kenny wrote:
I commented on this thread hours ago mentioning dreamboxes, that comment
hasn't appeared and isn't in my Sent/Outbox/Deleted folders or anywhere
else, very strange!

Kenny

Have you looked in drafts?

Failing that, if you can remember what you said, it might be worth
trying to send it again.

Jim

On Tuesday, 24 November 2015 14:05:52 UTC, Brian-Gaff wrote:
So how did they get the cable in without subscribing?
Brian

Just subscribe to the base package for a few quid a month, but then watch anything.


--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
Remember, if you don't like where I post
or what I say, you don't have to
read my posts! :-)
"Norman Rowing" wrote in message
...
'A man has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for selling illegal TV
set-top boxes online.

The boxes contained hardware which enabled users to watch Virgin Media
television services without subscribing.'


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-34879832