Hacking advice lets viewers watch Sky for free

By CHRIS BARTON

Sky's UHF TV channels have been hacked thanks to a piece of software freely downloaded over the internet.

But the person who detailed on his website yesterday how he had used the software now wishes he had kept mum.

"I was being a bit silly doing it, really. I just wanted to see if it was possible," said computer consultant Jeremy Bertenshaw.

He had heard for years about people using the software and decided to try it out - "totally for scientific purposes".

He then described the process on his website, jeremyb.net, for a few friends who were interested. Mr Bertenshaw's web address was referred to in an article on a local news site, Aardvark.

Using a PC equipped with a TV tuner card connected to a UHF aerial, Mr Bertenshaw could view a range of Sky's subscriber channels, including sports and movies.

Several reader comments on the Aardvark site indicate that other users in New Zealand are also using the software to unscramble Sky's signal.

The information, now removed from Mr Bertenshaw's site, told how the software enabled "decoding of VideoCrypt encrypted television signals." VideoCrypt is the algorithm used for scrambling Sky TV's signals.

Sky spokesman Tony O'Brien said this was the first instance of hacking the signal in New Zealand of which he was aware. "We'll look into it and take steps to deal with it immediately."

The hack can be applied only to Sky's UHF service, not Sky Digital.

jeremyb.net

Aardvark