Microsoft Aims for Hack-Proof 360

jondaw writes "The BBC is reporting that "Microsoft plans to make its next generation games console, the Xbox 360, as difficult as possible to hack...There are going to be levels of security in this box that the hacker community has never seen before...I'm sure sooner or later someone will work out how to circumvent security. But the way we have done the design doesn't mean that it will work on somebody else's machine.""

Comments

Amount of work in design

[Wayne247]

Is simply equal to the amount of work hackers will have to do to get around it.

Claiming something hackproof is like saying a doorlock is tamper-proof. It *can* be opened, it's just how much work are you prepared to do that justifies doing it.

Re:Amount of work in design

[Red Flayer]

Not claimed to be hackproof in TFA: "'I'm sure sooner or later someone will work out how to circumvent security. But the way we have done the design doesn't mean that it will work on somebody else's machine'[said Chris Satchell]"

So, they say that a hack may work on one machine, but not another? Article implies that this additional security is added through hardware design. What are they doing, putting a combination lock on the circuitry?

No matter what the new security is, I'm sure it'll me that much more rewarding for the person who first publishes the workaround.

MS has to be careful that the console isn't too easily modifiable, or else they'll get slapped with a lawsuit for enabling people to pirate copyrighted works...

The Only Secure System

[TracerRX]

The only secure computer is one that is turned off, locked in a safe and buried 20 feet down in a secret location, and I'm not completely confident of that either. -- Bruce Schneier

This must be...

[Pig Hogger]

This must be the computerish equivalent of the "Kick-Me" tee-shirt...

Re:This must be...

[MarkGriz]

This must be the computerish equivalent of the "Kick-Me" tee-shirt...

More like the *triple* dog dare.

Just keep it up

[oman_]

Just keep on hyping up your new security up until launch. Thay way you look like even bigger 4$$holes when it all comes crashing down.

Why?

[marcus]

I am sure that there are others like me, the only reason I bought an Xbox was because it *was* hackable!

I use it in a 'hacked state' far more often than 'straight'.

hack-proof != difficult to hack

[lysander]

Article: Microsoft plans to make its next generation games console, the Xbox 360, as difficult as possible to hack
Headline: Microsoft Aims for Hack-Proof 360

I would like to think that slashdot would be a place where people (e.g. editors) would know the difference between these two statements.

As a wise man once said to me :

[LePrince]

"If something was done by a man, another man can undo it". Still holds true, IMHO.

Real security

[steveo777]

The first, most obvious measure is price. If people can't afford one, they certainly can't hack one.

The kernel software will, of course, be protected with poor coding that is nigh impossible to navigate.

The box will be made out of the rare metal Adamantium infused with trace particles of kryptonite. Virtully unbreakable, and protected against any Kryptonian hackers.

But the most important security measure of all: Microsoft plans on installing at least half a dozen starving, crazed weasels that will attack anyone who succeeds in opening their boxes.

I think people underestimate the challenge

[EnglishTim]

There seems to be this attitude that a crack will inevitably come out fairly quickly.

I don't think that's the case.

I think many slashdotters are overly confident just because the original Xbox got hacked and we've manage to hack CSS, but you've got to remember a couple of things: Firstly, the original Xbox was the first hardware of that type that Microsoft had created. They put in some protection but it wasn't good enough. I'm sure they have learnt from their mistakes and it will be considerably more difficult to crack this time around. Secondly, with CSS it took quite a long time to get a crack and that was due (IIRC) to a CSS licensor screwing up and leaving the key unprotected in the firmware.

Now, it's possible that Microsoft have screwed up again, but it's by no means a sure thing.

Working Definition

[Anonymous Coward]

A lawyer friend once told me that the working definition of "waterproof" was not that something was impervious to water, but that when something was damaged by water the manufacturer was obliged to replace it.

Maybe what Microsoft is saying is that when your Xbox 360 becomes a DDOSing zombie, they will replace it for free*.

*postage paid by end user. Please include a stamped, self-addressed return box. 350 dollar processing fee required. Void in New York, California, and anywhere else those linux loving hippies live.

Hacking never got anyone anywhere, right?

[truthsearch]

Yeah, cause hacking never resulted in the creation of any large software companies... Microsoft thinks there's no way to profit from hobbyists. How was it their company got started again?

Was is the green or red wire?

[vertinox]

"Microsoft plans to make its next generation games console, the Xbox 360, as difficult as possible to hack..."

In a basement in the Midwest...

Hacker1: According to the diagram we are supposed pull the firing pin without shifting it's center of gavity or otherwise the mercury will hit the electrodes on the C4.
Hacker2: Ok. *click* *beep* *beep* *beep* Oh crap! You didn't say anything about a presure plate.
Hacker1: Quick. Cut the wire to the right of the power supply.
Hacker2: Ok. Oh double crap!
Hacker1: What?
Hacker2: There are two wires!
Hacker1: Well just cut one for christ sakes!
Hacker2: Here goes nothing! *clips* *beeping stops* *phew*
Hacker1: Finally... No we put the rom chip here... *xbox starts spewing green smoke*
Hacker2: Oh fark! *coughs* It the posion gas!
Hacker1: *coughs* Does this mean we *coughs* voided the warranty?

That reminds me of a joke from a bad movie

[captaincucumber]

what's the difference between a light bulb and a pregnant woman?

You can unscrew a lightbulb.

Not everything can be undone.

So I guess the question is, will the XBOX 360 be more like a lightbulb or a pregnant woman?