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

December 29th, 2005, 12:10 Posted By: wraggster

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.

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