FAQ & How To General forum for Newbies. Will have FAQ's and How To's written by senior members.

Comment
  LinkBack Tutorial Tools Display Modes
<!-- google_ad_section_start -->IKS and ICS explained<!-- google_ad_section_end -->
IKS and ICS explained
Published by RagingBull
July 7th, 2009
<!-- google_ad_section_start -->IKS and ICS explained<!-- google_ad_section_end -->

You must of heard of IKS by now and you may have also heard of ICS..want to know the difference? read on..

IKS = Internet Key Sharing
ICS = Internet Card Sharing



Quote:
IKS and ICS are different forms with the same result.

They both use internet connections to share "keys", but these are not the keys that "autoroll", they are called Control Word "keys" or CWs, each channel on each provider has its own CW that is valid for approx. 5 minutes, this CW is an 8 byte number, this 8 byte number is used to unscramble the digital Video/audio packets for the 1 channel, so every time you change channels you need the Decrypted CW for that channel, and this is what I K S/I C S provides your receiver via the internet connection.

The way a standalone bin works is that when you select a channel to view, the bin sends the Encrypted CW packet, found in "the stream" on that channel, to the "softcam" in the bin, the softcam Decrypts the CW packet and uses the Decrypted CW to unscramble the Video/audio for that channel.

Softcam
= a software duplicate of a DN N2 smartcard

No one has been able to "open" an N3 card to get the information inside to make a software duplicate of it to use in a bin file.

**This is why there is no "N3 fix" bin.


With ICS the receiver is connected directly to the shared N3 card, there is an interface that allows more than 1 receiver to connect to the one card, each receiver gets the Encrypted CW packet from "the stream" for the selected channel, it sends it to the shared card via the internet, then gets back the Decrypted CW via the internet to use to unscramble that channels Video/audio, so the shared card replaces the softcam in the bin file.
ICS groups must be small and VERY private, because each user has direct access to the card, any of them can get the cards CAM ID, this ID leads directly back to the subbed account holders name and address, so DN would shut this account off and prosecute the account holder if possible, these groups would usually only be 10 to 20 users.

IKS doesn't give users direct card access, they are connecting to a server that has all the channels listed by ID, with each channel ID is the latest decrypted CW for that channel, so the card is not being shared directly, the Decrypted CWs are being shared.
The receiver still sends the Encrypted CW packet via the internet to the server, the server uses that packet to ID the channel, and sends back the Decrypted CW for that channel, the card is not involved in any of this.
If the Encrypted packet has not been "seen" by the server before, so its a new CW, then the server will send that encrypted packet to another location, the card server, where it will be Decrypted by the Subbed N3 card then sent back to the User server to be saved and sent out to any user watching that channel.
IKS setups have no limit on users, just the server limits, but more servers can be added to increase port capacity.

As said above none of this is new, card sharing has been going on since the first smart cards were used in Europe.
IKS is newer since it is only used if a large sharing group is wanted, the extra cost of servers just doesn't make sense with smaller groups.
nFusion used IKS because FTA ECMs were occurring more and more often, by switching from standalone bins to an IKS setup they could avoid the "cardless" ECMs that were effecting standalone bins, it was a good selling point for their models.

Any Subbed card based setup, ICS or IKS would, of course, only be able to provide Decrypted CWs for those channels that are paid for on that subscription, which is why PPVs and PPV adult channels are not available, some ICS groups do order PPV movies or Adult channels on a preset schedule, so users can record it for future viewing, everyone pays in these groups so that is doable, once every one agrees on the cost, with IKS the cost of PPV/adult channels would fall to the IKS provider, because there is no extra way to get money from the users, the cost of the monthly subscription would come from current sales, so not sure if doing once or twice a week PPV nights would be cost effective for them, but it would be doable, problem in that would be DN could get a limited idea of which sub accounts might be being used for the IKS, and each week of ordering PPVs on specific days would narrow down the IKS sub account until there were only a few targets left, this is the problem with public IKS setups, DN has full access to all info that is public, like PPV schedules, lol.

Yes any internet use can be traced back to you, but this includes downloading bin files, the risk is always all yours, always has been.

An IP address is forever, doesn't matter if you are connected 24/7 or for 10 seconds, the IP address is logged and saved for as long as the owner of the server wants it.
You could get a legal letter 3 years from now about a file you downloaded today, or 6 months ago, lol.



So why we can't we use software to avoid the IP address identification?


"Basically because the "dongle" is working in direct synchronization with an Internet connection, you can't add a software to your dongle or Ihub"

thanks to the author
Tutorial Tools
The Following 22 Users Say Thank You to RagingBull For This Useful Post:
acehighone (July 7th, 2009), barrie (July 12th, 2009), basscat02 (July 7th, 2009), billspee (July 8th, 2009), Bulafiji (July 7th, 2009), Captain Tom (July 23rd, 2009), deanluna (July 7th, 2009), FLACOLOCO (July 7th, 2009), fossil112 (July 7th, 2009), frostynugget (July 20th, 2009), geojr (July 25th, 2009), gimpalong (July 24th, 2009), Hueffenhardt (August 28th, 2009), JAD94 (November 21st, 2009), lc62 (August 13th, 2009), leksieo (September 9th, 2009), lsporkin (July 11th, 2009), Meme127 (July 23rd, 2009), ogzer707 (September 5th, 2009), Solo001 (July 8th, 2009), tonydix (September 3rd, 2009), triney (July 25th, 2009)
  #1  
By basscat02 on July 7th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

Great post Bull !!!
Reply With Quote
  #2  
By deanluna on July 7th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

very good read.,.,thanks for the info.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
By fossil112 The World: [August 4th, 2009] - Private on July 7th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

good info bud. thanks
Reply With Quote
  #4  
By kegnkiwi on July 7th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

Great information there mate.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
By reid1022 on July 8th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

So what you are saying is IP blocker programs like Peerguardian or Tor do nothing to protect an IKS user?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
By RagingBull on July 9th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

Quote:
Originally Posted by reid1022 View Post
So what you are saying is IP blocker programs like Peerguardian or Tor do nothing to protect an IKS user?
Its not me saying it. I did not write the article. Author is unknown but yes that is what he is saying since you cannot load the program on the dongle, it has to run on your PC and only blocks your PC. If someone really is trying to track your IP they will do it. Question is not if they can but if it is worth their while to do so.

There is always a raging debate on the safety of IKS and this post was not meant to start it up again. It is simply a post meant to explain exactly what IKS and ICS is since this question gets asked many times here and few people have a good understanding of how it works. I thought this was the best explanation I have seen so far. It is meant only as education for those that are interested in learning.

It is not meant as an endorsement nor a condemnation of IKS.
Last edited by RagingBull; July 12th, 2009 at 10:39 AM..
Reply With Quote
  #7  
By reid1022 on July 9th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

Quote:
Originally Posted by RagingBull View Post
Its not me saying it. I did not write the article. Author is unknown but yes that is what he is saying since you cannot load the program on the dongle, it has to run on your PC and only blocks your PC. If someone really is trying to track your IP they will do it. Question is not if they can but if it is worth there while to do so.

There is always a raging debate on the safety of IKS and this post was not meant to start it up again. It is simple a post meant to explain exactly what IKS and ICS is since this question gets asked many times here and few people have a good understanding of how it works. I thought this was the best explanation I have seen so far. It is meant only as education for those that are interested in learning.

It is not meant as an endorsement nor a condemation of IKS.
Thanks for the quick answer, was wondering why people didn't simply use IP masking programs long ago for safety. Good explanation as to why it is not safe. Thanks for helping me make a decision on IKS. Not worth the risk.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
By moorw on July 12th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

Thanks very interesting
Reply With Quote
  #9  
By Rbopo on July 16th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

Wow!
This most certainly clears up many questions
Reply With Quote
  #10  
By dabarbarian on July 19th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

is there any fee involved with these two do u pay a monthly or yearly fee or is it just free i wanna know
Reply With Quote
  #11  
By RagingBull on July 20th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

Quote:
Originally Posted by dabarbarian View Post
is there any fee involved with these two do u pay a monthly or yearly fee or is it just free i wanna know
Depends on the box from what I hear. The big ones like Nfusion and Sonicview do not have a server fee at the present time.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
By geojr on July 25th, 2009
Re: IKS and ICS explained

loved the info,,thanks,thanks makes you think doesn't extreamly complated, but simple
Reply With Quote
Related Content
Cool Deals!

__________________
Cool Deals

Comment

Tutorial Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475