10.7 Conclusion

The topic of security is multifaceted and it appears that almost every security discussion spills into aspects that are related and distinct from some initial focus. This chapter attempts to survey some of the aspects of security in general, and iTV security in particular. Appropriate processes and architectures are important. Moving on to a technical discussion, the PKI, TLS and XML digital signatures are some of the technologies enabling these processes and architectures. Finally, a specific integration of these technologies in cable set top boxes offers a glimpse of the practical issues and widely accepted solutions.

The presentation here is intended to be a starting point for further, much more detailed, reading and understanding of issues. Due to the diversity of the topic, much of what is presented here is left intentionally incomplete; readers are encouraged to follow up, use the content of the book as an anchor, and answer their questions through research.