360 demo theft possible piracy floodgate opener – Boot discs loom?

Self-boot routines under scrutiny

Posted by Staff
360 demo theft possible piracy floodgate opener – Boot discs loom?
A worrying situation for Microsoft is emerging over the holiday period, with reports of self-booting Xbox 360 software being shared across the web, painting a picture of increased pressure on the console's defenses against piracy.

From what we can gather, an in-store demo pod was targeted by hackers seeking to steal the demonstration software it contained. The software has been taken, copied and leaked onto the Internet – though this isn't the whole story. Seemingly, the demo disc is a self-booting DVD-R and is fully copyable and will play on any retail Xbox 360. The wider possible consequences facing Microsoft following the release of this unprotected code are dire.

Talk is already engulfing hacker communities, many of whom see the 360 as a natural target – it is, after all, a Microsoft product holding the key to expensive per-disc entertainment solutions. Most talk at time of press focuses on splicing the code from the demo – the code which seemingly bypasses the in-built security features of the machine – with existing ISO copies of full retail games. As you may be aware, there isn't an Xbox 360 game released in any territory that isn't already available over peer-to-peer networks. The code is useless right now – completely unusable – though as revealed exclusively by SPOnG (and widely plagiarised across the web) mod-chips to enable usage of the copied code is expected within weeks.

“We've been seeing partial success from some corners [in China] though nothing that could go on sale yet.” a source close to the Chinese mod-chip research and development industry told us last week. “Everyone is working on a full-functioning 'do everything' chip that will take apart the 360 and let users do what they will, though we expect a first-generation bypass device that will allow back-ups within weeks. The first on the market is likely to be complex and might not be particularly good, though that's just a stopgap before real chips become available.” Though the emergence of the self-booting demo software does offer a new and unexpected option to those seeking to undo the 360.

Given that the disc comprises software that will play on a retail machine when cut to DVD-R, a boot-disc with disc-change (as seen on the PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, etc...) will be under development. As to whether this line of undermining will require any case modifications remains to be seen, though given the structural architecture of the 360's innards, this is unlikely to pose a huge problem for hackers.

So right now, the Xbox 360 faces what is looking to be an increasingly difficult battle to maintain its current level of security. We have mod-chips well underway in the Far East and now two potential openings resulting in the theft of an unprotected disc, namely the possibility that ripped games can be recompiled with the self-booting code included, or a boot disc unlocking the hardware and allowing pirate games to be played.

As ever, we'll keep you updated on the situation as it happens.



Comments

Joji 29 Dec 2005 22:46
1/6
When it snows you get an avalanche eventually. There are plenty of MS haters out there to do this.

I'm sure right now MS are feeling like the Shin-Ra company and the haters like Avalanche terrorist organisation (FFVII puns aside).

What can MS do? Well not much. Xbox was always being hacked whatever they did. Quite soon some damage limitation will be applied to 360 like a plaster to a bad cut. However cuts can be more severe than they might otherwise seem.

Hackers n' Crackers are a resistent bunch. They are the Rebel Alliance against the Empires of the industry.
If banning them from Xbox Live won't stop them I can't say what will.

Much ado about nothing? You decide.
brandon_r87 30 Dec 2005 05:18
2/6
OK, no flame war please. Don't tell me your opinions and beliefs about modding, because I've already heard them and respect them.

I have a modded Xbox. On sites like xb0x-scene, people would just say, "Yeah. Big deal. Me too." But across other places on the web, it draws considerable negative attention to the person with the mod. I accept that. I don't mod to pirate games. I do it for Xbox Media Center and also to use my Xbox as a Linux PC. In addition, I run copies of MY OWN LEGALLY PURCHASED (make sure you know) games off the hard drive so I get faster loading times. But these aren't that useful. So why did I do it? Fun. Curiosity. It's a hobby. It was something to do to see if I could.

So please, don't lump all modders into this terrible group that destroys games for all. Many features from the 360 come from ideas that users in the mod/hack scene have come up with, media center being one of these. After Microsoft saw how big this idea was to people in the mod scene, they tried to make it work within their Media Center OS, although painfully crippled (give us more codecs! AAC! Apple lossless! DIVX!).

Yes there are bad modders/hackers who do it just to get free commercial games, but many people do it for a hobby, not really harming anyone.
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saurian 31 Dec 2005 22:06
3/6
I don't mod to pirate games. I do it for Xbox Media Center and also to use my Xbox as a Linux PC. In addition, I run copies of MY OWN LEGALLY PURCHASED (make sure you know) games off the hard drive so I get faster loading times.


I know quite a few people with modded Xboxes. I know hundreds with modded Ps2 and plastation 1s. A lot of them spout crap much like you. But they all have modded consoles for one thing and one thing only. To use pirate games.
brandon_r87 1 Jan 2006 00:30
4/6
OK, maybe they do. But I don't. There have to be other people that don't too. So obviously it isn't fair to say all people who mod their systems are these terrible piraters, tearing down the gaming industry.
saurian 1 Jan 2006 14:59
5/6
brandon_r87 wrote:
OK, maybe they do. But I don't. There have to be other people that don't too. So obviously it isn't fair to say all people who mod their systems are these terrible piraters, tearing down the gaming industry.


I am not judging piraters, thats for others to do.I know that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo add a premium to their game prices to compensate for lost revenue from piracy. I think that Sony deliberately encouraged a certain amount of piracy on PS1 to ensure a larger user base, which in turn guaranteed a bigger uptake of PS2, where piracy is less common. There are a lot of people who will not buy a console if they cannot get cheap copied games to run. All I was saying was that every modded Xbox, PS1, PS2 etc that I have ever known, and thats hundreds, has been modded for the sole reason of running pirate games. I do not think anyone is being honest if they clain otherwise.
vault 13 1 Jan 2006 18:25
6/6
saurian wrote:
brandon_r87 wrote:
OK, maybe they do. But I don't. There have to be other people that don't too. So obviously it isn't fair to say all people who mod their systems are these terrible piraters, tearing down the gaming industry.


I am not judging piraters, thats for others to do.I know that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo add a premium to their game prices to compensate for lost revenue from piracy. I think that Sony deliberately encouraged a certain amount of piracy on PS1 to ensure a larger user base, which in turn guaranteed a bigger uptake of PS2, where piracy is less common. There are a lot of people who will not buy a console if they cannot get cheap copied games to run. All I was saying was that every modded Xbox, PS1, PS2 etc that I have ever known, and thats hundreds, has been modded for the sole reason of running pirate games. I do not think anyone is being honest if they clain otherwise.


Here is my two cents. The rest you have to pay for:

The number two reason people hack and mod is emulation. Granted it's away from the number one reason piration, but it is big. And so what if we get a few free games? That's no big deal. I'd much rather see if my $50 is better spent on Carmageddon 64 or Superman 64. See how many people's lives could have been saved from craptastic games like those.

I guess the ideal, optimal scenerio is that we mod, incur no penalty like LIVE account banning. We pirate games to demo them out. If there worth buying, we buy. We crack hard drives and play out of production games. We create new uses for our game systems and thus increase interest and more business for system manufacturers. Electronics see an increase in business from all the hardware we're buying.

This of course doesn't happen. For every one decent, moral having gamer, there's a thousand meatheads, jocks, idiots, and the like who refuse to pay for their games for whatever stupid reason they give for justifying it. "Oh yeah, I hate game companies and Microsoft, so I'm just gonna buy the system (X-Box, etc.) and pirate games and take down the machine from the inside! wOot! (read: I am too chickenshit to steal a game console and pirating is basically anonymous and guilt free and I'm not harming anyone and I have no money actually buy games)"

You never see casual gamers emulating or opening up the system's potentials. You never see people who buy cds off the street with massive music collections or a real love of music. They do it because it's easy, because it's cheap, because they can. When you see games start being pirating on the street and you can just pop them in an unmodded system, then we have a big problem.

I mean we have a problem now. There are überhackers who pirate anything and everything under the sun, there's casual "meathead" gamers who pirate only the newest and hottest "joints", and then you have people on the fringe who want to pirate but are too afraid or don't know how to get in yet.

Basically all I'm saying is, that with music piration too, in theory piration is an amazing thing. But in reality it's being abused like crazy and hurting everyone. So anyone who tries to defend it and make claims that it's better for everyone is lying to themselves and everyone else. Honestly, I'd rather have no piration then where it is now.

Vault 13: Making no sense since 1980.
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