scope:

Introduction and Purpose

The present document is part of a series of specifications that define the third generation of high-speed data-over-cable systems. This series was developed for the benefit of the cable industry, and includes contributions by operators and vendors from North America, Europe, and other regions.

The present document defines the Base Line Privacy Plus (BPI+) architecture which covers CM authentication, key exchange, and establishing encrypted traffic sessions between the CM and CMTS. Early Authentication and Encryption (EAE) applies BPI+, earlier in the provisioning process (see clause 8). This specification also defines security features for the CM provisioning process, which includes Secure Software Download (SSD).

Requirements

Throughout the present document, the words that are used to define the significance of particular requirements are capitalized.

The present document defines many features and parameters and a valid range for each parameter is usually specified. Equipment (CM and CMTS) requirements are always explicitly stated. Equipment must comply with all mandatory (MUST and MUST NOT) requirements to be considered compliant with the present document. Support of non-mandatory features and parameter values is optional.

Conventions

In this specification the following convention applies any time a bit field is displayed in a figure. The bit field should be interpreted by reading the figure from left to right, then from top to bottom, with the MSB being the first bit so read and the LSB being the last bit so read.

MIB syntax and XML Schema syntax is represented by this code sample font.