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

smart card A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

, which equips an integrated digital television or

set-top box A set-top box (STB), also colloquially known as a cable box and historically television decoder, is an information appliance device that generally contains a TV-tuner input and displays output to a television set and an external source of sign ...

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 that ‘just-in-time’ evaluation to ensure the person who is seeking access to content is authorized to access the c ...

content that has been

encrypted In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

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. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna commo ...

(DBS) services, although

digital terrestrial Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

pay TV suppliers also use CAMs.

PC Card In computing, PC Card is a configuration for computer parallel communication peripheral interface, designed for laptop computers. Originally introduced as PCMCIA, the PC Card standard as well as its successors like CardBus were defined and devel ...

form factor is used as the

Common Interface In Digital Video Broadcasting, 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 manufacturers to ...

form of Conditional Access Modules for

DVB Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) is a set of international open standards for digital television. DVB standards are maintained by the DVB Project, an international industry consortium, and are published by a Joint Technical Committee (JTC) o ...

broadcasts. Major CAM manufacturers include: Neotion, SmarDTV & SMIT. 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 encryption syste ...

Viaccess Viaccess is a conditional access system edit 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 ACS6.x/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 Thierry ...

, Irdeto, KeyFly,

Verimatrix Verimatrix () is a company founded in 1999 which specializes in content security for digital television services around the globe, providing pay television service protection technology and secure Voice over IP, VOIP. It provides software and IP-bas ...

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 *the BFBS satellite service * UPC Dir ...

, Mascom, Safeview,

Diablo CAM Diablo or El Diablo 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 fictional characters from DC Comics * ...

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, th ...

NDS NDS may stand for: * Low German ( nl, Nedersaksisch, links=no, german: Niederdeutsche Sprache, links=no, ISO 639-2 language code: nds), a West Germanic language native to Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands * Lower Saxony (german: Niedersa ...

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 News ...

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 multicrypt meaning each is capable of handling more than one encryption system. Matrix CAMs can be upgraded via the

port in a

laptop A laptop, laptop computer, or notebook computer is a small, portable personal computer (PC) with a screen and alphanumeric keyboard. Laptops typically have a clam shell form factor with the screen mounted on the inside of the upper li ...

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

grey market A grey market or dark market (sometimes confused with the similar term " parallel market") is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels that are not authorized by the original manufacturer or trade mark proprietor. Grey market pr ...

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 In computing, PC Card is a configuration for computer parallel communication peripheral interface, designed for laptop computers. Originally introduced as PCMCIA, the PC Card standard as well as its successors like CardBus were defined and devel ...

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 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.

See also