PGP

Pretty Good Privacy is a very popular e-mail encryption and
autentication tool developed by Phil Zimmermann and used very
frequently by tv-crypt members to exchange confidential information
over the Internet.
Phoenix

A PC software developed in early July 1994 by tv-crypt members that
emulates the card interface of a decoder and allowed to send faked
card and channel activation messages to genuine BSkyB series 09
cards.

PPV

A Pay Per View mechanism allows a broadcaster to charge viewers
not only for a permanent subscription to a set of channels,
but also for the access to special single broadcasts like a
spectacular boxing massacre.

PRNG

A Pseudo Random Number Generator is an algorithm that produces a
sequence of numbers that are usually uniformly distributed over a
given range and that show no obvious statistical dependency with
each other. A pseudo random number has an internal state that
changes with each produced random number. Each generated random
number is a function of the internal state. The set of possible
internal states is usually much larger than the set of possible
output numbers. The initial state of a PRNG is called the seed
value. A cryptographic PRNG has the property that if a long sequence
of random numbers produced by the PRNG is know, it is a very
difficult problem to determine the internal state, the seed value or
one of the next output numbers, even if the algorithm is completely
known.

Season7

A PC software that can emulate a VideoCrypt smart card. By using a
serial-port to ISO 7816 adapter, this software allowes to watch
VideoCrypt programs with a normal VideoCrypt decoder, but without a
VideoCrypt subscription card. The first version was released by
Markus Kuhn in early April 1994 to around 10 people who participated
in technical discussions about VideoCrypt in the old
alt.satellite.tv.europe USENET group. This group of people became
the first tv-crypt members. Later, others took the software,
extended and upgraded it or modified it heavily for EuroCrypt
emulation and published it under various names like Season7a,
Season9, MACcess, Voyager, etc. OMIGOD was a nickname for Season7
used in Hack-Watch by John McCormac. The name refers to the original
motivation for writing the software: allowing the author to watch
the seventh season of Star Trek episodes on BSkyB.

seed value

The initial internal state of a PRNG. The seed value sent to the
PRNG implemented in the PTV-3 chip in each VideoCrypt decoder is
calculated by the Motorola 68705R3 processor using the 8-byte hash
result (control word) fetched from the smart card using the 0x78
instruction.

SEM

A Scanning Electron Microscope uses electron beams instead of light
in order to provide very large magnification factors.

signature

A digital signature is the part of a data packet that proves to the
receiver that the data packet was prepared by an authorized source
and has not been created or modified by a hacker. Digital signatures
are usually based on the result of a cryptographic hash function.

subcommand

This fourth byte of the 32 data bytes in a 0x74 instruction
indicated to the series 07 and 09 BSkyB cards a command that was to
be executed. Example subcommands are the activation or deactivation
of certain channels or of the whole card as well as counter measure
subcommands that execute highly non-portable and difficult to
understand code. The subcommand byte was XORed with a value
calculated from the previous data bytes using a very simple XOR and
rotate algorithm. Subcommand 0x80 contained up to 16 nanocommands.

Syster Nagravision

A pay-TV access control system for the PAL color TV broadcasting
system developed by Nagra Kudelski of Switzerland and manufactured
by Eurodec/SAGEM. Syster Nagravision is used by Canal Plus, Canal
Plus Espagna, Premiere, and Teleclub.

token

In a PPV mechanism the access code for one PPV event.

VBL

A VideoCrypt Broadcast Logfile contains a recording of all 0x74
instructions sent to the card during one TV event. The data format
of VBL files is very similar to VCL files. VBL files allow to submit
to the owner of a genuine card the data necessary to create a VCL
file even if the owner of the genuine card has missed the broadcast
of the program from which a VCL file should be produced.

VCL

A VideoCrypt Card Logfile contains all information necessary in
order to allow a VideoCrypt card emulator to respond like a genuine
card to the instruction 0x78 hash value requests of the decoder. The
VCL file format is specified in the file details.txt of Season7. VCL
files allow the delayed data transfer hack: a person without a
genuine VideoCrypt card records the encrypted broadcast of a program
on a VCR, downloads later from the Internet a published VCL file for
this program, and decrypts it while playing the VCR recording to the
decoder.

VCR

Video Cassette Recorder, a magnetic tape recorder for TV signals.

VideoCrypt

A pay-TV access control system developed by NDC for the PAL color TV
broadcasting system used by BSkyB, The Adult Channel, BOB, Sky TV
New Zealand, and a few other channels. Described by european patent
application 0 428 252 A2.

VideoGuard

A pay-TV access control system developed by NDC for the Huges
DirecTV digital satellite broadcasting system (DSS) in the US. DSS
and VideoGuard are technically similar to DVB and MPEG-2, but not
compatible.