A conditional access module (CAM) is an electronic device, usually incorporating a slot for a

smart card A smart card (SC), chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card), is a card used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an Embedded system, embedded integrated circuit (IC) chip. Many smart ...

, which equips an integrated digital television or

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also known as a cable converter box, cable box, receiver, or simply box, and historically television decoder or a converter, is an information appliance device that generally contains a Tuner (radio)#Television, TV tuner inpu ...

with the appropriate hardware facility to view

conditional access Conditional access (CA) is a term commonly used in relation to software and to digital television systems. Conditional access is an evaluation to ensure the person who is seeking access to content is authorized to access the content. Access is man ...

content that has been

encrypted In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plain ...

using a conditional access system. They are normally used with

direct-broadcast satellite Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location.ITU Radio Regulations, Section IV. Radio Stations and Systems ...

(DBS) services, although

digital terrestrial Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

pay TV suppliers also use CAMs.

PC Card PC Card is a technical standard specifying an expansion card interface for laptops and personal digital assistants, PDAs. The PCMCIA originally introduced the 16-bit Industry Standard Architecture, ISA-based PCMCIA Card in 1990, but renamed it to ...

form factor is used as the

Common Interface In Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), the Common Interface (also called DVB-CI) is a technology which allows decryption of pay TV channels. Pay TV stations want to choose which encryption method to use. The Common Interface allows TV manufacture ...

form of Conditional Access Modules for DVB broadcasts. Major CAM manufacturers are Airmod.tech and SMIT. Airmod, created in 2022, regroup CAM formerly managed by Neotion and SmarDTV. Some encryption systems for which CAMs are available are Logiways,

Nagravision Nagravision (or Nagra Kudelski or simply Nagra) is a company of the Kudelski Group that develops conditional access systems for digital cable and satellite television. The name is also used for their main products, the Nagravision enc ...

Viaccess Viaccess is a conditional access system developed by Orange S.A. There are six versions in use today, Viaccess PC2.3, Viaccess PC2.4, Viaccess PC2.5, Viaccess PC2.6, Viaccess ACS3.x/Prime Sentinel, Viaccess ACS4.1, Viaccess ACS5.0, and Viaccess A ...

Mediaguard MediaGuard is a conditional access system for digital television developed by SECA (Société Européenne de Contrôle d'Accès; renamed to Canal+ Technologies SA) (CEO François Carayol), a subsidiary of Canal+ Group, sold to Thomson (CEO Thierr ...

, Irdeto,

KeyFly KeyFly is a conditional access (CA) system developed by SIDSA which is compatible with the DVB-CSA platform. The system is based on SIDSA MACtsp processors, and conditional-access modules for it can integrate the card directly into the CAM. Overv ...

Verimatrix Verimatrix () provides cybersecurity products and services that protect video content, streaming media, mobile applications, websites and APIs. The company merged with Inside Secure in 2019. It is headquartered in France and Asaf Ashkenazi is the ...

Cryptoworks In television encryption, Cryptoworks is a DVB conditional access system, developed by Philips CryptoTec but now belonging to Irdeto. Cryptoworks is used by the following pay TV providers: *OSN * Digiturk (before 2011) *the BFBS satellite se ...

, Mascom, Safeview,

Diablo CAM Diablo or El Diablo is the Spanish word for 'devil'. It may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * Diablo (Disney), a raven in ''Sleeping Beauty'' * Diablo (Marvel Comics), a Fantastic Four villain * El Diablo (comics), several ...

and

Conax Conax develops television encryption, conditional access and content security for digital television. Conax provide CAS technology to pay TV operators in 85 countries. The company has offices in Norway (headquarters), Russia, Germany, Brazil, t ...

. NDS

VideoGuard VideoGuard (sometimes referred to simply as ''NDS''), produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems – some of which are operated by ...

encryption, the preferred choice of Sky Digital can only be externally emulated by a Dragon brand CAM. The NDS CAM that the Sky viewing card ordinarily uses is built into the Sky Digibox and thus not visible. Dragon and Matrix, two popular cams with satellite television enthusiasts are meaning each is capable of handling more than one encryption system. Matrix CAMs can be upgraded via the

port in a

laptop A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...

personal computer whereas a Dragon cam update is done via separate programmer hardware. Although not officially supported or acknowledged, and programmable modules are a

grey market A grey market or dark market (sometimes confused with the similar term "parallel import, parallel market") is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are not authorised by the original manufacturer or trademark proprietor. ...

in the pay-TV industry. The primary purpose of the CAM is to derive control words, which are short-term decryption keys for video. The effectiveness of a CAM depends on the tamper resistance of the hardware; if the hardware is broken, the functionality of the CAM can be emulated, enabling the content to be decrypted by non-subscribers. CAMs are normally removable so that they can be replaced after the hardware security is breached. Replacement of the CAMs in a system is called a card swap-out. CAM Modules come in two types: ''standard'', intended for a single TV consumer, and ''professional'', made for an array of televisions connected to a rack of CAMs, like in a hospital or a hotel. The standard format for a CAM is a

PC card PC Card is a technical standard specifying an expansion card interface for laptops and personal digital assistants, PDAs. The PCMCIA originally introduced the 16-bit Industry Standard Architecture, ISA-based PCMCIA Card in 1990, but renamed it to ...

which takes a

to authenticate, although CAMs with the 'smart card' burnt into memory, known as Cardless CAM, can be found. With the CI+ 2.0 certification came a new

USB dongle A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality. In computing, the term was initially synony ...

form factor. In addition, CAM emulators exist for many systems, either providing an interface to allow the use of more than one type of card, or a card not designed for that receiver.

References

{{broadcast encryption Digital Video Broadcasting Set-top box PCMCIA

See also

References