Downloadable Cable Security ‘Feasible,’ But Requires Work, NCTA Says

Discussions with MSOs with 85% of U.S. cable subscribers show the cable industry is “committing” to using DCAS in its own leased set-tops as well as devices to be offered for sale at retail, including set-tops and integrated DTV sets, NCTA said. Leased set-tops and CE “host” devices are to be preprogrammed with special conditional access keys, NCTA said. When the set-top or device connects to a network with DCAS, the network’s conditional access codes are securely downloaded to the device, letting it receive conditional access instructions, including copy control signals, it said.

NCTA said the “secure key distribution system” at the heart of DCAS would include a microprocessor embedded in the set-top or DTV; a keying and programming facility that can install secret keys in the microprocessor; system authentication functionality; and provisions “to identify and track secure microprocessors so they may be properly validated by a trusted authority when they connect to a network.” NCTA said construction will begin first quarter 2006 on the keying facility, expected to go online by 3rd quarter. Development of ASIC chips to be used in commercial products will be complete by late 2007, and testing on finished devices is expected by early 2008 in preparation for a July launch that year, NCTA said.

A prototype DCAS was last demonstrated at the FCC Nov. 29. Scientific-Atlanta (S-A) and Motorola set-tops using DCAS each operated on the other company’s network, the NCTA said. NDS and Samsung also demonstrated the download of NDS conditional access data to a retail Samsung set-top with DCAS to illustrate “the suitability of DCAS for the retail environment,” NCTA said. Samsung became the first CE maker to license DCAS from CableLabs, and NCTA said other CE companies are sure to follow (CED Dec 1 p4).

CableLabs would figure prominently in DCAS licensing and administration, according to the NCTA proposal. For example, the host specs for DCAS are now in the OpenCable specification process at CableLabs, NCTA said. It said CableLabs specs are drafted based on contributions from 500 CE, IT and content companies, as well as MSOs. “CableLabs does its work cooperatively with manufacturers and developers so that the resulting specifications reflect what manufacturers will build for the commercial marketplace,” NCTA said. “This avoids the delays and uncertainties that have plagued the launch of other technologies, like HD DVD or Blu-ray.” The DCAS “security regime” will use an approach like that of DTCP, which limits the disclosure of DTCP trade secrets to DTLA licensees, NCTA said. “The same CableLabs specification development process has had such success in opening markets that it has been imitated by WiMAX, DSLHome and MovieLabs,” NCTA said.

CEA declined to comment on the DCAS proposal while it studies the NCTA report to the FCC. But CEA in its filing vowed “to continue to oppose” any proposal that serves to again delay the Commission’s integration ban on cable set- tops, which the FCC set for July 1, 2007, in its last deadline extension. CEA said 17 months have passed since the deadline originally set by FCC rules for MSO system support for CableCARDs, yet “this objective has not been fully achieved.”

Notwithstanding Samsung’s licensing of DCAS, CEA said the CE industry “has not had access to either the technical or licensing terms” of a downloadable security model, “so we are unable to endorse any such approach at this time.” But any regulations permitting MSOs to rely on DCAS “must also support common reliance by CE manufacturers in order to fulfill the competitive objectives the Commission has established,” CEA said. Any DCAS solution “must equally support” unidirectionality and bidirectionality and not give any “unfair disadvantages” to cable devices sold at retail vs. those leased from an MSO, CEA said.