Traditionally the CAS market has been dominated by card-based systems that use an encrypted card to unlock the services to which a consumer is entitled. However, the growing sophistication of delivery mechanisms (e.g. IPTV), the advent of new viewing devices (e.g., cell phones, tablets), and the continuing efforts by pirates to gain access to content without permission (e.g., HDTV cracks), have all combined to increase the importance of Software Conditional Access technology. Software CAS provide good flexibility and responsiveness, allow provisioning of new services without direct engagement, and even to update compromised security keys.
Unfortunately, Software CAS can normally be compromised quite easily, bypassing protections, spoofing update success, and more. Metaforic technology can harden the Software CAS so that it becomes very difficult to subvert.
Metaforic technology can also help with the core “key-hiding” problem that Software CAS, and indeed, many embedded and network systems, face: the “secret” key to access the critical content has to be kept within the deployed application software itself. Organizations have tried a variety of methods to hide and protect these keys, with limited success. Problems have arisen due to the complexity of the protection tools, the engineering skill required to use them, the impact on runtime performance, and ultimately, the brittle nature of the protection schemes. Metaforic products are easy to use, provide long-lasting protection, and a crack of one application has no impact on any other.
The rapid growth of over-the-top services such as the BBC iPlayer in the UK, and unregulated content websites such as YouTube, has allowed consumers to rapidly become comfortable with viewing TV content on their computers. This familiarity is encouraging subscribers to want and expect the same services for which they presently pay their TV provider … on all devices they own.
Placing content on any PC or Mac® is an alien environment for most CAS: the devices are open and inherently more difficult to control than Set-Top boxes, so the DRM & Conditional Access Systems are more susceptible to piracy. However if a software CAS system can be hardened to deliver the same experience and quality as subscribers are used to on Home PCs, then the viewing and business options grow for service providers and their partners.
MetaFortress and MetaSure already manage license keys on PCs and Macs for a range of applications, and this capability can harden CAS key data on video playback software, maintaining the same level of security as experienced on set-top devices.
Whether your customer uses a SmartPhone, a Tablet, or other device, they are beginning to want and expect access to their paid-for TV content on the devices of their choice. Traditional handheld TVs have come of age in the form of over-the-top services delivered to phones and other device formats. Metaforic products support a wide variety of platforms, enabling you to expand your reach while still retaining protection for your services.
MetaFortress, applied at compilation of the existing CAS Software, will stop analysis and interpretation of CAS Keys, preventing Control Word Sharing and other compromises. MetaSure stores the key (or keys) such that these cannot easily be accessed by unauthorized users. MetaFortress also prevents the use of Hardware Break Points to subvert protected code on the Set-Top and in any PC or Mac® player Software.
For more information about our products and how our customers are using them in the Conditional Access market:
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All software is vulnerable to tampering and hacking. It is critical that organisations protect themselves against malicious attacks in order to protect their revenues, sensitive data, intellectual property and reputation.
MetaFortress can help! To find out more please read our White Papers.
