JEDDAH, 28 January — Counterfeit smart cards, which have spread across the Saudi market lately, have forced two big entertainment organizations to change their smart cards in order to overcome pirating of their transmission codes.
A year ago, counterfeit smart cards appeared in the local market. They enabled people who did not subscribe to two of the most popular TV networks in the Kingdom and the Middle East, to receive the full selection of channels for only SR35-70. The codes on these counterfeited cards can be changed for about SR15 whenever the companies change their transmission codes.
The demand for these cards has increased although many inspectors have been searching satellite communications shops to confiscate any counterfeited cards.
A technician -- who preferred not to be named -- in one of the affected companies said, "We are making an extra effort to check each subscriber's card. This ensures that each client receives transmission despite the changes we make in response to the continuous breaking of our codes. It's costing us a lot in terms of money and manpower. Sometimes, we have to change subscribers' decoders in order to receive the new transmission".
Ibrahim Khalaf, an electronics and communications engineer, explained: "These companies are suffering from continuous violation by the hackers. All their transmission electronics are located in smart cards, which are very easy to access. Other entertainment companies in the region are not suffering from this problem, because transmission to their subscribers is through the decoder and is harder to break into."
"Although the smart card is a much more practical technology, it's not secure. Whenever they change their codes, hackers identify the new codes and save it on the counterfeit smart cards. Companies are now changing their transmission orders and I believe that the counterfeit smart cards will become useless soon," he added.
