The finding will be detailed at the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam

Mar 7, 2012 14:41 GMT  ·  By
A lot of security experts will present their findings at HITB 2012 in Amsterdam
   A lot of security experts will present their findings at HITB 2012 in Amsterdam

The Internet is already buzzing about the Hack in the Box (HITB) conference that will take place in Amsterdam between May 21 and May 25. Among the interesting subjects presented at the event, there are also the flaws discovered by a Polish security researcher in digital satellite TV set-top-boxes and Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) chipsets.

The security expert is Adam Gowdiak and his findings reveal that a large number of digital satellite TV platforms worldwide are exposed to malicious operations due to the weaknesses that exist not only in the software and the hardware of these devices, but also because of the services supplied by many vendors.

Gowdiak, who is the founder and CEO of Security Explorations, wants to demonstrate that digital satellite TV set-top-boxes are exposed to hacking and malware infection and the worst part is that there is no user interaction required.

Basically, the expert’s research shows that a cleverly designed piece of malware can be leveraged by a hacker to gain access over the Internet to the encrypted satellite TV programs paid by an unsuspecting user.

“Security Explorations' presentations at HITB2012 Amsterdam will be unique for two reasons. It will be the first ever discovery and disclosure of real malware threats in the context of the digital satellite TV platform,” Gowdiak said.

“And this will also be the first ever successful attack documented against digital satellite set-top-box equipment implementing Conax Conditional Access System with advanced cryptographic pairing function.”

The Conax Conditional Access System the expert is talking about is implemented worldwide for protecting paid content against illegal sharing and distribution. If his claims turn out to be valid, then service vendors will have a lot of work to do to cover up all the security holes.

Gowdiak’s previous work includes identifying vulnerabilities in key Java technologies and Microsoft’s Windows operating system back in 2003.

As HITB approaches, we’ll tell you all about the interesting discoveries and innovations that will be presented at the event. Also, since we’ll probably cover the conference from Amsterdam, all these topics will be brought to you in detail after the researchers make their presentations.