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The Hidden Boot Code of the Xbox

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the stuff-to-read dept.

Device666 writes "In order to lock out both copied games as well as homebrew software, including the GNU/Linux operating system, Microsoft built a chain of trust on the Xbox reaching from the hardware to the execution of game code, in order to avoid the infiltration of code that has not been authorized by Microsoft. The link between hardware and software in this chain of trust is the hidden "MCPX" boot ROM. The principles, the implementations and the security vulnerabilities of this 512 bytes ROM will be discussed in this wikipedia article entitled How to fit three bugs in 512 bytes of security code."

10 of 284 comments (clear)

  1. Dupe by dkf · · Score: 5, Informative

    Thanks for not reading your own site, CmdrTaco

    --
    "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  2. Not Wikipedia by c0l0 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Just because some text is available on a Wiki, it's not automatically so on Wikipedia, y'know?

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    :%s/Open Source/Free Software/g

    YTARY!
  3. Deja Vu is just... by SynapseLapse · · Score: 5, Funny

    the slashdotrix adjusting itself... Pay no attention to that cat.

  4. Wikipedia by mnemonic_ · · Score: 5, Funny

    The principles, the implementations and the security vulnerabilities of this 512 bytes ROM will be discussed in this wikipedia article entitled How to fit three bugs in 512 bytes of security code.

    So it seems someone doesn't know the difference between a page with wiki technology and Wikipedia.

  5. Howto fit 2 stories in the same by bigdady92 · · Score: 5, Funny

    512b of space. NExT ON SLASHDOT!

    --
    Wheel of Time: Book by Book and Sumview (summary review) Bigdady92 style: http://bigdady92.blogspot.com/
  6. Re:This is not a wikipedia article... by Philmeeh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ahh yes but I wouldn't expect editing to occur on Slashdot

  7. So that's six bugs per kilobyte? by mikeophile · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is that over or under Microsoft's par?

  8. Re:Why?! by brokenarmsgordon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What is morally wrong about doing whatever you want with something you paid for and own?

    What's morally wrong is anyone arbitrarily dictating what you can and cannot do with your personal property.

  9. Re:Dupe by nitio · · Score: 5, Funny

    Posted by CmdrTaco on Friday August 12, @10:32AM
    from the stuff-to-read dept.

    Oh the irony...

    --
    http://stoploudness.org/
  10. Re:Why?! by Intron · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's why I always rub bacon on the shrink-wrap and let my dog open it. Then he's bound by the EULA, not me.

    --
    Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.