Satellite channel codes are designed to protect against retransmission, copying or illegal viewing, as well as to prevent unauthorized viewing profits from viewers. To combat piracy in the field of satellite TV, they come up with more and more coding systems that are more difficult to crack. But, over time, the newest encoding systems are easily broken by hackers and pirates.
Viaccess encoding systems
Viaccess 2.3 is currently a hacked key system. It was created by the French company France Télécom to encode channels on a paid basis. After hacking, it was improved by superimposing an additional encrypted TPS-Crypt signal on the main body of the key. Using this encryption method, the developers were able to transmit several signals at once on the same frequency. After that, an ordinary satellite receiver could not recognize the keys, even if it was equipped with an emulator. To view channels encrypted with Viaccess 2.3 coding, subscribers had to buy AEC-type keys from a satellite operator.
Viaccess 2.4, 2.5, 2.6 - three hacked and currently ineffective encodings, but some channels work in this encoding to this day, for example, the Mezzo classical music channel from the Hotbird 13E satellite.
Viaccess 3.0, 3.1 are encodings developed in 2007. At the moment they have not been hacked, but the channels that work in them can be viewed illegally using kart sharing.
Viaccess 4.0, 5.0 - developed in 2012, are actively used by satellite operators from France, as well as the Russian satellite operator NTV-Plus. Not hacked, but paid channels are easily viewed illegally through cartsharing.
Nagravision 2 coding system
Nagravision 2 is widely used by satellite operators in Europe. It was partially hacked, but all vulnerabilities were eliminated by updating the encryption and changing the key cards for more than 4 million subscribers. Germany has suffered the most financially due to the card change.
If the Nagravision 2 encoding is cracked again, German satellite operators will have to replace 17 million more cards, which will entail colossal financial losses.
Videoguard and Irdeto 2 encoding systems
The Videoguard and Irdeto 2 encoding systems are among the most technically protected. They are used by a number of satellite TV providers in Europe, Russia and Ukraine. Although the system keys have not been compromised and made available to the public free of charge, channels encrypted on Videoguard and Irdeto 2 systems can easily be viewed illegally through cartsharing.
The Videoguard coding system is used by the Ukrainian satellite TV provider Viasat, and the Irdeto 2 system is used by the Russian operator Raduga TV.
BISS coding system
The BISS encoding system is the simplest and most vulnerable to hacking. BISS keys are easily matched by calculation method, since they are encrypted in hexadecimal notation. Also, the main problem of the system is that the channel codes are encrypted directly in the satellite receiver. If the receiver is equipped with a key emulator, it will not be difficult to crack the BISS encoding on it.
