Systems and methods for performing cascading dynamic crypto periods are disclosed. In embodiments, a control word and a set of functions is transmitted between a head-end and recipient devices at the beginning of a crypto period. The crypto period is divided into a discrete number of sub-crypto periods. The control word used to encrypt and decrypt the broadcast content is changed during each sub-crypto period. At the end of the first sub-crypto period, a derived control word is generated by passing the original control word to a function in the set of functions in order to generate a derived control word at the first transition between sub-crypto periods. The derived control word is used for encryption and decryption of the broadcasted content during the second sub-crypto period. Upon transitioning to the third sub-control-period, the derived control word is input into another function to produce a second derived control word.