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Stalker middleware is a free & open source IPTV/OTT Middleware from the company Infomir. It supports authorization, IPTV, EPG, recordings of previous TV shows and VOD, making a nice all-in-one solution for IPTV providers. Using Stalker middleware one can provide Stalker portal which is used to access provider's contents.
This is a PHP project that uses HTTP web server and a mysql database. :)
Stalker portal is nothing but a website that reassembles TV box interface which is loaded in special TV boxes, also known as "MAG". It is usually referred as URL with the configuration required to access provider's contents.
This website cannot be used in a simple browser, because of the design - tv boxes with each HTTP request include hardware IDs, such as MAC address. Stalker portal provider whitelists your TV box hardware IDs in their database, making it (theoretically) impossible to clone STB box. STB boxes will also contact Stalker portal saying "hey, my username is X and my token is Y, please log off all other devices under my username that use any other token" which also makes it possible to only use a single STB box at a time.
Stalker portal also provides somewhat clear API, making it possible to use it in applications that does not load Stalker portal in a "website" mode. Applications like StbEmu does load in a "website" mode, because this is originally intended way of using Stalker portal, but applications like OTT Navigator IPTV (my favorite) uses API and provides it's own interface (resulting in unified, consistent and more responsive interface).
Looking from security perspective, STB boxes communicate with Stalker middleware in simple HTTP requests (without SSL) and sends its hardcoded parameters/credentials in both URL query and request headers (think of http://example.com/load.php?username=abc&password=aaa) in a plain text. Also streams/VOD are usually served in an industry-standard ways, like HLS or simple MP4 files without any DRMs, making it easy to mess with.
Stalkerhek is a proxy application that allows you to share the same Stalker portal account on (theoretically) unlimited amount of STB boxes and makes it possible to watch Stalker portal IPTV streams in simple video players, such as VLC. This application itself connects to Stalker portal, authenticates with it and keeps sending keep-alive requests to remain connected. The rest is being done by this application's Services.