Editing Pirate decryption (section)

===ISO/IEC 7816 smartcard terminology===
* [[Answer to reset|ATR]] is the answer-to-reset data from an ISO/IEC 7816-compliant smartcard. A card reader would provide power, clock and reset signals to a smartcard, along with a bidirectional serial data interface to permit communication. On reset, the card would send a standard block of serial data (nominally at 9600 bit/s) to identify the card type and indicate the desired bitrate for further communication. The frequency of clock to be supplied may vary from one system or card type to another as it appears not to have been specified in the ISO standard.
* A smart [[card reader]] is a device that allows a computer to communicate with a smartcard. Technically, these are simple devices consisting of a smartcard socket, some voltage level conversion circuitry and a crystal oscillator to supply the card with its clock signal. Early models were connected to the serial port on computers so the interface circuitry had to convert between the [[ISO/IEC 7816]] card voltage levels and the [[RS-232]] voltage levels used by the computer's serial port. More recent models use a [[Universal Serial Bus|USB]] connection to the computer. The simplest of earlier devices was the ''Phoenix interface''. More sophisticated readers are often used in systems where the personal computer itself is to be secured using smartcard systems.
* [[AVR microcontrollers|''AVR'' and ''ATmega'']] are trade names for a series of general-purpose 8-bit [[microcontroller]] chips manufactured by [[Atmel]] Corporation. The terms have been misused widely to refer to blank smartcards or various other hardware devices which were built around these processors. The widely available European ''funcard'' series of blank generic ISO/IEC 7816 smartcards were based upon the Atmel processor series; there was also a ''PIC card'' based on the [[Microchip Technology|Microchip]] Corporation PIC series of processors.
* [[emulator|Emulation]] refers to the use of a personal computer in place of a smartcard using an [[ISO/IEC 7816]]-compatible "Season" interface. The PC, as far as the decoder is concerned, becomes a legitimate smartcard due to the program running on it. The program responds like a legitimate smartcard. Sometimes, for development purposes, the PC is programmed to simulate the entire instruction set of the smartcard's [[microcontroller]] to allow smartcard code to be developed more readily. As some encryption systems require an application-specific IC ([[Application-specific integrated circuit|ASIC]]) on the card to perform decryption, a pirate would also use a card which had been "auxed" (reprogrammed to pass received computer data directly to the application-specific decryption chip) in order to employ such an emulation system. Alternatively, pirates can sometimes emulate the functionality of the ASIC itself to gain access to the encrypted data.
* A [[looped smartcard]] is one where defective or malicious program code written to [[non-volatile memory]] causes the smartcard's [[microcontroller]] to enter an [[endless loop]] on power-up or reset, rendering the card unusable. This is typically a countermeasure used by encryption system owners to permanently deactivate smartcards. In many cases, not even the [[ISO/IEC 7816]] ATR message would be sent. ''Unloopers'' were smartcard repair stations intended to cause the card to skip one or more instructions by applying a "glitch" in some form to the power or clock signal in the hope of allowing the smartcard's microcontroller to exit from the endless loop.
* ''Bootloaders'' were hardware which used a similar "glitch" to break a card out of an endless loop on power-up each time the card was used; these did not provide any smartcard reprogramming ability. These could permit DirecTV "H" cards (now no longer in use) to operate despite the permanent damage done by malicious code during the "Black Sunday" attack of 2001. These devices are currently believed to be obsolete.