Piracy in the 360?

[pegisys]

It seems the latest hack for the Xbox 360 re-writes the DVD-ROM firmware to report back to the OS that the discs are in fact original and not writable. What I've read seems to indicate it's a real hack, but hasn't been released for legality reasons.

I heard that every dvd drive is locked to the motherboard, because they don't work if you swap them to another console, so would every firmware need to be hacked differently, I don't think you would just be able to flash hacked firmware from another drive to it becasue it wouldn't work

and I heard about the hack like this for the xbox1 that just was done, but the guy didn't release it, but gave instuctions, was this by the same person or is it someone using a similar hack or are the two systems getting mixed up

EDIT: I think it is for the xbox1, here is a link

 

[Dave Baumann]

I wonder if this (apart from the unfortunate typo) is actually related.

 

[AzBat]

I heard that every dvd drive is locked to the motherboard, because they don't work if you swap them to another console, so would every firmware need to be hacked differently, I don't think you would just be able to flash hacked firmware from another drive to it becasue it wouldn't work

and I heard about the hack like this for the xbox1 that just was done, but the guy didn't release it, but gave instuctions, was this by the same person or is it someone using a similar hack or are the two systems getting mixed up

EDIT: I think it is for the xbox1, here is a link

Yeah, it's the same guy, but he's not taking all of the credit. Read the other XboxHacker thread linked above. Evidently it was a group effort.

Tommy McClain

 

[AzBat]

I wonder if this (apart from the unfortunate typo) is actually related.

I have no idea, but that sure is funny.

Tommy McClain

 

[Andy]

Well if this video is to be believed, then the X360 has already been hacked.

 

[Graham]

Well if this video is to be believed, then the X360 has already been hacked.

Funny how just after the microsoft logo, the screen fades completly black very quickly, fades back in just as fast, and all of a sudden the xbox being reflected in the tv is fully assembled again. How odd.

[edit]
on watching a higher bitrate version it doesn't actually completly fade out, and the reflection looks quite different too. so maybe not. maybe they just had another box plugged in the back

 

[hey69]

they release those info and videos just for braggin I guess.. why write tons of info about it and then say that you wont release the firmware....
so much for 'pirats are bad etc ' but they would be the first to sell hardware if they hacked the xbox360 trough a chip. It is afteral a million dollar business.

most probably this firmware will be leaked by someone who will emulate their work or maybe by one of the crew.

 

[thekey]

So thats it? Its been hacked yesterday?

 

[thekey]

"The Specialist " in xboxhacker anounced his success http://www.xboxhacker.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=2

 

[liolio]

I 'm sure that is a good news for MS.
Even if the attach rate go down, overall sales can take profit.

 

[Deepak]

I have full faith in my Chinese/Taiwanese friends' skills.

 

[Platon]

I don't get it. They say that the exe will still have to be signed? What does that mean? Can you copy a DVD and play it then, does the signature stay through the burn proccess?...

 

[c0_re]

I don't get it. They say that the exe will still have to be signed? What does that mean? Can you copy a DVD and play it then, does the signature stay through the burn proccess?...

I think it means you'll have to download the games from pirate sites and then burn the download to a DVD the ability to copy the exe at home successfully might be difficult. I could be wrong.

 

[DeathKnight]

The system hasn't been hacked through-and-through. They've only modded the firmware of the Hitachi drive to allow the booting of a non-1:1 copy of PGR3. The firmware is game-specific too so they can't boot any other game copy. They have yet to create universal firmware that will boot any game copy (which is likely going to take a significant amount of time if they can even do it). They basically have to circumvent the copy protection on the discs to make copies because standard DVD burners are unable to write all of the security features/data on the discs (which is why the copies aren't 1:1).

 

[scooby_dooby]

The system hasn't been hacked through-and-through. They've only modded the firmware of the Hitachi drive to allow the booting of a non-1:1 copy of PGR3. The firmware is game-specific too so they can't boot any other game copy. They have yet to create universal firmware that will boot any game copy (which is likely going to take a significant amount of time if they can even do it). They basically have to circumvent the copy protection on the discs to make copies because standard DVD burners are unable to write all of the security features/data on the discs (which is why the copies aren't 1:1).

Actually they're working on a new implementation right now which will make the hack generic which they say is fairly trivial.

Basically it fools the DVD drive directly into thinking that an XEX has been signed, when it's actually not. So, as far as the rest of the system is concerned this is a legit copy of the game, in theory they should even be able to play backups on live since the system considers it a signed executable, and there's no other modifications to the system.

They say this is only good for piracy though, but it's a pretty huge hole. All you need to do is a firmware update to your DVD drive.

 

[Tap In]

holy crap what a huge hole

jeez MS

 

[DeathKnight]

Well, you always have to give it to Microsoft to leave huge security holes in the dumbest places

 

[thekey]

Actually they're working on a new implementation right now which will make the hack generic which they say is fairly trivial.

Basically it fools the DVD drive directly into thinking that an XEX has been signed, when it's actually not. So, as far as the rest of the system is concerned this is a legit copy of the game, in theory they should even be able to play backups on live since the system considers it a signed executable, and there's no other modifications to the system.

They say this is only good for piracy though, but it's a pretty huge hole. All you need to do is a firmware update to your DVD drive.

Would you mind showing me the source for this? Do you know if the firmware is modified through hardware or software?

 

[scooby_dooby]

check xbox-scene.com

right now there's no easy way to do it, however, they state it just needs someone to write some windows based flashing software.

 

[Platon]

I have to say I don't get this, how can such an easy thing be go unoticed and even more strange, is it the DVD drive that decides and security checks the DVD, I though it had to go through the CPU and what not...