It was a genius counter-hack -- distributing the countermeasure piecemeal, in undetectably small pieces, over time, and then building it into the fatal payload before pirates could analyze or block the change.
> Several weeks ago, DirecTV began transmitting to its receivers, via satellite, small pieces of the programming code that ultimately killed the altered cards, according to company sources and accounts published on HackHU.com, a Web site devoted to the satellite TV hacking community. The bits of digital information ultimately formed a complete program that--when triggered Sunday--permanently maimed any H card that had been altered.
> The result shocked bootleggers, who long had dismissed the steady trickle of software updates as more annoying than serious. When the pirates turned on their television sets Monday, they saw nothing. (The pirates saw the “GAME OVER” message when they studied the software coding that killed their cards, according to HackHU.com and other sites.)
> Several weeks ago, DirecTV began transmitting to its receivers, via satellite, small pieces of the programming code that ultimately killed the altered cards, according to company sources and accounts published on HackHU.com, a Web site devoted to the satellite TV hacking community. The bits of digital information ultimately formed a complete program that--when triggered Sunday--permanently maimed any H card that had been altered.
> The result shocked bootleggers, who long had dismissed the steady trickle of software updates as more annoying than serious. When the pirates turned on their television sets Monday, they saw nothing. (The pirates saw the “GAME OVER” message when they studied the software coding that killed their cards, according to HackHU.com and other sites.)