Access
Card DirecTV’s means of providing certain
programming to HU Card Loaders Unloopers Hackers certain households, depending on what is paid for.
The access card has memory on it, which means it can store data. The
card is known as a "Conditional Access Module," or CAM. Each card
has a unique identification number (called the CAM ID) which is how
DirecTV can add or remove programming from each and every individual
card. The cards are very similar to standard smart cards, but they
implore advanced security HU Card Loaders Unloopers Hackers measures to ensure that the card cannot be
tampered with using a standard smart card reader/writer. In the span
of DIRECTV, there have been 3 different generations, or versions of
the Access Cards, and they are named according to the letter that
precedes the identification number. In chronological order, these
cards were the F, the H, and the HU. If you buy a DIRECTV system
today, it comes with a HU, because the first two generations of
cards were susceptible to security hacks- people found ways of
breaking the cards security, and adding their own programming info.
DirecTV's access cards follow an industry standard in smartcards,
known as ISO7816. Hence, any standard ISO7816 smartcard programmer
can read and write these cards with the proper software.
CAM ID A unique
identification number present on the memory of each and every
DIRECTV Access Card, and also explicitly printed on the back of the
card. IRD The HU Card Loaders Unloopers Hackers common term for satellite receiver. Receiver’s
also have unique identification numbers.
Marrying When an
access card that has just come hot from the factory (ie brand new,
or "virgin") is activated for programming by DirecTV, the card
writes down the receiver’s identification number into its memory.
The card then uses this number to prevent it's being moved to
different receivers. In essence, the card and receiver have
"married" each other. If you then remove the card and place it into
another receiver, you will get an error message, because the access
card is married to the first receiver is was activated inside.
Datastream (aka Stream, Signal, Satellite Signal) The datastream is
just that- a stream of data. It is specifically the waves of
encrypted (scrambled) data that are sent down from DirecTV’s
satellites up in space. When you tune to a channel, it is encrypted.
The access card then computes the datastream, and if the card says
the channel is authorized, it descrambles HU Card Loaders Unloopers Hackers the signal for the
television.
Programmer
An ISO7816 smartcard reader/writer that plugs into
your computer’s serial port and permits a hacker to read and write
to any ISO7816 smartcard, such as the access cards.
Update (aka USW) A
change in the code on the access card, usually done to destroy cards
with hacks on them, or to add some fuctionality (such as interactive
TV) to the access card. USW stands for Update Status Word, and
simply counts the number of times the card has been updated. A card
with a USW of 5 has been updated 5 times, for example.
H-Cards do not
currently get updated anymore...code changes are done through
something that is a little different, called a dynamic update.For a
more detailed explanation of a dynamic update, see "Dynamic Update"
below in this dictionary. gullible and lazy. However, DTV isn't quite so forgiving of card programmers, and rightly so.
Card programmers directly compete with DTV for its profits which probably accounts for the fact that many of DTV's ECMs
have been specifically targeted at commercial hacks and is also the likely reason why DTV has pursued commercial card programmers through legal avenues.
Right about now, you're probably wondering how anyone could offer any justification for hacking DSS if they genuinely
feel that DTV alone is entitled to receive money for card programming. Sounds like a glaring dichotomy in ethics, doesn't it?
Yet it really isn't contradictory at all. Paying someone other than DTV to program your cards is indeed deserving of scorn,
ridicule and being ripped off because people who pay someone else to program their cards clearly demonstrate that all they're
interested in is TV at a bargain basement price. On the other hand, people who take the considerable amount of time and effort
required to learn how to hack their own cards are often motivated to do so for reasons that range far beyond that of merely
wanting to get cheap TV. And although, as I said at the HU Card Loaders Unloopers Hackers outset, it would be impossible to offer every hacker's