The Importance of Security
by Henriette Hackenberg
Modern communication and distribution media continue to make our world smaller by the day. The convenience of receiving data, photos and video clips from anywhere in the world on various portable devices, cannot be disputed. Content providers and PayTV operators are delighted that new infrastructures allow them to reach end consumers in new ways.
Options such as Pay Per Time smart cards by Irdeto Access allow consumers to make an impulse purchase of viewing time, without signing a contract or giving their personal details, while only paying for the actual time they access the programming. Content thus becomes increasingly mobile and accessible.
But the more distribution possibilities there are; the higher is the attraction for others wishing to ride on the success of those with legal rights to content. Piracy is a threat to all types of content, be it software, data, visuals, audio or video. Wherever money can be made from the redistribution of content, there will be thieves to try to exploit the market. By far the highest levels of content piracy are found in Asia- in 2001 the financial losses from software piracy were nearly double those experienced in Western Europe. The Hollywood studios and other content providers are naturally weary of releasing their precious productions into such a threatening environment.
For Irdeto Access as a Conditional Access security provider, the objective is to ensure that even if pirates should manage to get to the operator’s content, it will not provide them with a sufficient profit to be worth their while. The most effective way to prevent piracy is to make it commercially unattractive.
The new Security Programme by Irdeto Access seeks to do just that. To maximise the protection offered by its high R&D investment, Irdeto Access launched a whole framework of security around it. The latest technology developments are impressive and exciting, but fighting on the basis of technology alone is too limited. In order to fight piracy on a wider level, a holistic approach to the problem is required.
Committed to anti-piracy efforts on various other related levels, Irdeto Access strongly believes that it is the integration of these various components that keep their customers’ business secure.
Any solution is only as strong as the overall security approach behind it.
Irdeto Access explains the framework by likening it to an image of a three-legged stool. Each leg is one area of focus to protect our customers’ business. Without any one of the legs, the stool falls over.
The Three Legged Stool against piracy
- Technology
- Legislation
- Industry Affiliations
Technology
With hundreds of millions of Euros being lost to piracy every year, it is crucial for companies to work proactively to reduce their risks. It has been customary in the industry to launch a smart card and keep this in the market as long as possible. The process of swapping out the cards in the field is laborious and obviously incurs costs, so only a strong threat by pirates would induce an operator to move to a new technology. In its new Security Programme, Irdeto Access takes a pro-active stance and releases their latest smart card technology at regular intervals, even though the older card versions are still going strong. The cards are compatible and it means that an operator will always have several card versions deployed throughout his subscriber base. Moreover, the customer will benefit from the latest available technology.
Irdeto Access has invested heavily over the past few years to develop new, state of the art technology, which increases security by many orders of magnitude. Potential pirates intending to break this technology will be faced with greatly increased costs of doing ‘business’.
Irdeto Access released the world’s first Digital CA system in 1995. This technology remained unhacked for 5 years. At the beginning of 2000 Irdeto Access introduced its Version 2 smart card. Since then no Irdeto Access Conditional Access (CA) products have been hacked. By releasing a new card on a regular basis, the volume of each card in the field is diluted and thereby the risk of any breach is reduced even further. If despite this, a swap should be required, the number of cards that need to be swapped is reduced to those that have been supplied within a single year’s window. This will significantly reduce Irdeto Access customers’ risks and potential costs and is thus a great assurance and benefit for them.
Legislation and industry affiliations:
Irdeto Access co-operates with industry partners and even competitors to fight those seeking to damage their business. Only by producing legislation against piracy, can countries combat this multi-million dollar industry. Through membership in a wide range of industry bodies, of some of which Irdeto Access has been a founder member, Irdeto Access campaigns for legislation on a worldwide basis. It is one of the few companies that are so committed to security that we address it at the community level as well.
Irdeto Access is a member of the following security bodies:
AEPOC- European/ EU initiative
STOP- European investigator level, set up in Scandinavia
CASBAA- Australian and pan-Asian
QBPC- China
Detection and prosecution
Irdeto Access is active on a worldwide basis in the surveillance of pirate activities, locating and identifying pirate tools and shutting down the sales and communication channels of pirates. Obviously its employees work very closely with the customers and national authorities to combat piracy on this level.
So operators using any Irdeto Access system now benefit from:
- having the most innovative technology at all times
- significantly reduced exposure to piracy
- greater revenue assurance
- lower risk of operational inconvenience
- community level protection of their business
- an extra guarantee of their long-term business