I’ve always wondered if anyone has broken the Sirius XM encryption, in the USA. Since it is available nationwide, and is a unidirectional broadcast system (the radios have no return channel), surely someone out there has figured something out.
1. Get a new car from the dealership with a 90 day trial.
2. Leave it parked for a year without turning it on.
3. Free Sirius.
They broadcast signals like "Radio 15846374477 - Deactivate" when your trial runs out and if you miss them your radio won't know you aren't paying for it. It appears after a while they just give up and you can keep using it indefinitely.
It's my understanding that this is no longer true. The current system works by periodically rotating the master key, and then sending out that key to all subscribed radios by encrypting it with the radio ID.
Old radios will therefore be left with a key that doesn't work.
