STMicroelectronics is sampling STB (set-top-box) SoC devices featuring advanced CryptoFirewall security, which helps to prevent hacking of pay-TV broadcast signals and enables faster development of lower-cost set-top box products.
Hackers commonly interfere with the STB's conditional access mechanism, which frequently uses a smart card for subscriber authentication. Widely used attacks include card cloning and emulating the card using a PC. To overcome these vulnerabilities in established security architectures, the CryptoFirewall security core developed by Cryptography Research and now integrated in ST's set-top box ICs features dedicated tamper-proof and emulation-resistant hardware designed to work with the STB's conditional access system.
CryptoFirewall has been developed specifically to meet the pay-TV industry's needs. It is suitable for satellite, cable and emerging IP-based pay-TV services, and is compatible with pay-per-view and subscription business models.
The STi7108 is ST' first STB SoC device integrating CryptoFirewall. In addition to improving security, this technology embedded in the STB chip also shortens time to market and lowers development costs for equipment vendors and conditional-access companies seeking to meet studio requirements for hardware security.
