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New SecuROM Ties Protection to Physical Structure
bernardos70 writes "I read a brief article describing how the new version of secuROM, which is already present in newer games, employs a new encryption method which 'tie[s] itself specifically to the physical structure and characteristics of each disk'. Apparently companies are even ordering specially designed media to implement this method. I think that all this will do is frustrate the average joe trying to make legit copies, as the various groups online distributing ISO's are sure to find a way to bypass yet this new technology."
Most warez comes with cracks for SecuROM or whatever else already distributed with ISO, and whenever there's a patch, the patches are quickly cracked and distributed everywhere.
Even CD-Keys don't make much of a difference for not paying for the game -- servers are being cracked and emulated like crazy in everything from War3 to Battlefield to UT2k3 (just use buddy-lists).
There are a lot of people out there in the "scene" who are absolute Gods in disassembly and cracking, and nothing on Earth can stop them -- these people get the game and crack advanced protections on the way home on a laptop in a car.
I have no idea how sturdy 3DGPU's server is either, so this may serve a double purpose in case it goes down:
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Latest SecuROM Foils Even The Best CD Copiers
Posted by Paul Sullivan on October 10th, 2002 - Thursday 11:32 am
I have been getting a good stream of emails regarding the trouble copying the latest games with SecuROM protection and have been working to determine what is up, and after some hardcore telephone dialing, begging and pleading, have uncovered some information you all should know about. More than two individuals at two different companies (who unfortunately don't want to go on the public record for fear of reprisals) have confirmed to me that the latest SecuROM protection was designed specifically to thwart even the best current methods of copying.
From what I have been told, the new configuration uses a special glass master and pressing media with certain unique characteristics that allows the SecuROM protection to tie itself specifically to the physical structure and characteristics of each disk so that copies are very difficult if not impossible for the average consumer to make. I was further told that since copy protection companies were not able to get many CD drive manufacturers to comply with requests to build protection detection into their firmware and other aspects of the drives, the copy protection companies opted to go with one thing they can control - the physical media itself. The media is apparently special ordered and not designed to be made available to the public. Kind of like how you are issued keys to your post-office box that are not supposed to be copied by retail shops or how some new keys include custom microchips that cannot be duplicated by key fabs for public use.
If copying is to be able to be done, the thought is that true 1:1 copies will not be possible, since the protection is tied to each specific disk it is implemented on. If a fix is to be made, it will have to be on the software end, it appears. Don't hold your breath, however, as developing software that is specifically designed to thwart such protection is now subject to the DMCA, at least for now. Of course, we all know how that can turn out. We will need to wait and see if CloneCD, BlindWrite, CD-Mate or others can find a way to strip the protection from the original while duping, or perhaps find a way to alter the copy protection as it is transferred so that it recognizes the characteristics of the blank CD in use.
I was also told that No-CD hacks are not something these folks care much about. A couple of folks told me that No-CD hacks are pretty benign and if it keeps a loyal customer happy, they are ok with it. It is the copy and dissemination of the originals that seems to be what they are worried about. More as it becomes available. Any info you can share would be welcome here in the comments area.
Karma: \Kar"ma\, n. [Skr.] (Buddhism) One's acts considered as fixing one's lot in the future existence.
Personally, I make copies of my games (legally owned) for use on my laptop. Who wants to chance losing/damaging their only CD while travelling?
"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"
- Charles Darwin
I have no wish to pirate, but I also have no wish to buy hardware that will cause more trouble than the old hardware.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Most of the games that are pirated are available from warez sources a couple of weeks prior to the games going on store shelves. I would bet the trend will continue. So in some ways I would agree with you, move the warez release out and more people will buy. I would say not 30-60 days, but maybe even a week would have an impact.
There have been instances when I have played a game, enjoyed a game, and been bored with a game, prior to it ever being released to stores...no excuses here, just stating a fact.
Yes, there are people out there who make legit copies of software for backup reasons, especially if you need the CD in order to play the game. If you play the game a lot, just the motion of taking the CD in and out of the tray can scratch it up to the point where it is unusable. I have quite a few games that I can't play anymore because the CD is scratched beyond recovery. Why do you think EB makes a fortune selling devices to clean CD's and DVD's? Every time I go in to that store, I get hounded to buy one.
It turned out to be futile. People just disabled whatever code depended on it. And if the locations of the holes were used as a cryptographic key, people would just recover the key and hack the executable to supply it.
On current operating systems, where applications can't talk directly to the hardware anyway, you can do something even simpler: you just emulate whatever that special track contains by recording it on the source disk and replaying it through the driver on the destination drive. And if the drivers ever were to become secure, a small FPGA inserted into the ATA cable between the CD-ROM and the controller would give you the same capability completely transparently.
But the biggest problem with these approaches turned out to be that consumers just didn't like them and preferred software that didn't have such annoying mechanisms built in.
Overall, copy protection is a losing battle. The cost software vendors suffer in usability and customer good will is apparently higher than the losses from piracy that they stop.
Securom has nothing to do with the physical media. Look it up on google if you want.
Does your writer: 1. read and write RAW DAO and sub-channel data?
Does your burning software of choice: 1. write in RAW mode 2. with sub-channel data?
End of story.
This doesn't even need to be cracked... It's below cracking...
Blearf. Blearf, I say.
With todays harddisks of 100gb+, why not keep copies of the cds on the harddisk? Less noise (48x reader has a distinct annoying pitch), no searching for the cd, no changing cd, and the cd-rom is free when I need it, no need to go looking for that cover to put the old cd in. Plus it keeps my originals in mint condition.
I don't *care* if they want to use my cd-rom as the modern-day dongle. It's a hassle, and I don't want it. It won't be the end of the world if I can't do that in the future, but don't pretend it's not useful and convienient.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Actually, I think I kind of understand where this is coming from. I worked at a company that tried to be at the cutting edge of e-books (they fell off the edge, but whatever). I was a project manager and lead architect (sure blame me). I was constantly hounded by the biz and marketing side for more security and encryption on the books. I repeatedly told them how if a user can read it someone will figure out a way to copy it.
One day I was taken in to our VP's office and told that he understood that someone would always figure out a way to copy the ebook, but could I come up with a way to keep our clients from being able to copy their own books. See if I could come up with a clever scheme that thwarted dumb publisher and his "tech-wizard" friend/brother/brother-in-law (who ever they may be) then they will at least think their books are secure. So I did, the clients ooh'ed and ahh'ed, and life was good.
I am guessing that these new copy protection schemes have nothing to do with the actual populace that will use the games and more to do with marketing and biz talk.....bleck.
SecuROM is already out, one such game is Hitman 2. Being an unlucky sould who bought the game I was greeted with a ncie suprise. Buggy as HECK, crashes constantly, can't even make it past certainllevels. It IS hacked already thogh as there is a cracked .EXE on certain sites already. So "might make it harder" is moot, this "new" version is already DoA.
What's even MORE interesting is that the only way MANY of us have been able to get the game to work is to used the cracked .exe....turns out SecuROM is screwing up the game....
What fun! Certainly kept hackers at bay!
"The saddest words of mice and men, are not those which were, but should have been."
For those of you older folks, you may remember when Lotus123 came out with the first copy proof protection scheme in 1983? They burned a little hole in the disk with a laser beam. Let's see, that took about two days before it was cracked.
Unfortunately this has an effect on the bubble by reducing the number of people who initially buy. Hard core gamers willing to part with the cash may not buy based on what they hear around the net about copy protection. Additionally if companies had a software return policy that encouraged not discouraged consumers from returning poorly made product or just something they aren't interested in, they might see their sales increase significantly. As it is right now I'm leary of buying any game until I know at least one person who has it and know's that it works well (isn't laden with bugs) and that it will hold interest for more than a day. Too many times I've gotten burned by $50 games that were either flakey or just trash. In the end the only policy is to return to the manufacturer which people just don't use. People need to be able to make legitimate backups and also need the right to return garbage in a timely manner. Current policies don't facilitate and can significantly hamper these needs.
"Do not be swept up in the momentum of mediocrity." - anon