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Xbox 360 Backup Discs Bootable
An anonymous reader writes "The firmware of the Xbox 360 DVD drive has been hacked, allowing users to boot backups of games on the new Microsoft console. A group of hackers on the xboxhacker.net forum managed to trick the DVD firmware into reporting a recordable disc as an original Xbox 360 disc. This means that it will not allow booting of unsigned homebrew code (like Linux), as the signature check is not bypassed. This hack will just trick the Xbox 360 into thinking you inserted an original Xbox 360 disc, so it'll only boot unedited executables. A video has been released, the hack has not been released to the public (because it will be mainly used for piracy), but all the research of the last few months is publicly viewable."
That's got to be the dumbest thing I have heard all week.
No matter how much some people try to blame the problem on user error, the 360 has a massive problem scratching disc. And no it is not because 'some idiot moved the machine while playing'.
The 360 will scratch every disc you put in it, the only question is how badly and how long before it completely trashes the disc for good. Being able to back up and never have to put my original games in the machine will be a help with this hardware mess Microsoft has on their hands.
DRM is a stupid idea. It never stops hackers but it stops the average consumer from having the full use of the device they've legally bought. Making backups should be a fully protected right. Not a limited number of backup copies - as many as I happen to want to make. If I make a backup and then run it over with my car it shouldn't matter because my original is in a safe location and I can just make a new backup.
Of course 'backup' for the copy you're using isn't a very good term.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Actually, Playboy articles are pretty good, providing good analysis of all the hot topics, like global warming, politics, religion, law, freedom, etc., etc.
It was probably just an oversight, given it's probably about time a hack for the 360 came out, but did anyone else notice they showed everything hooked up nice and neat to the front of the TV, but never went around to the back of it to show that there wasn't another 360 plugged in there?
Isn't that just a really bad "security" model... that any old game you put in your system has the ability to re-write the firmware? Isn't that just asking for trouble?
"if you own the unit, you have no obligation to play only approved content"
Yes, but if you try to trick (and it is the only way) the DRM that prevents non-original content from loading you're violating the DCMA.
I'm guessing the good researchers figured if they publicly took the credit AND released the code, they'll be in the crosshairs of (MS||HomelandSec:-s||Feds||++) in a minute. If its not already illegal (isnt it?) , it'll probably soon be.
e nt..
So they figure they wont release the code.
They say, hey its possible.
They say, hey this is the exact result.
They say, hey this is how we've been going abt it these past few months.
They say, sorry folks, y'know we'd love to spread the good hack around, but y'know
piracy's piracy, and we dont want to get in range of the long arm of the law.
24 hrs later.
Ult.XBoxHack.360.FirmwareUpdate.CRaCkED.l33T.torr
They say, huh what??
Well, Good Luck...
Yeah, but booting non-MS code is much more difficult than booting copied discs. All you need to boot copies of retail games is DVD-ROM telling xbox, that it's xbox360dvd in the drive.
;)
In order to run unsigned binaries you have to crack several levels of protection, some of them embedded into the processor itself. And these are not your garden variety propriety measures hackable in an hour by sophomore CS student.
So, you still can't run XBMC (NG) on Xbox360, but you can play all the pirated games you want. Weird, isn't it?
I own original Xbox modified with DuoX modchip. Of course I have several pirated games installed on my (upgraded) HD. I would have bought some games I love (like burnout 3, 4), if it weren't for extremely stupid, suicidal policy of MS to ship Xbox with defective DVD drives that don't read DVD-R etc disks[1].
So, for me it's funny... MS is doing anything it can to make Xbox 360 unatractive to me and to prevent me from ever buying legal copies of games for either its old or new system...
Robert
PS If you want to condemn me as unwashed pirate, bugger off. I have a DVD collection bought legally, exceeding 300 DVD-s. Give me fair deal and I'll make your toilet solid gold. But if you want me to bend over for marginal gain, you must have been smoking something very strong all of your life.
[1] You see, me and my wife are compulsive sci-fi/crime series watchers. Unlike me, my wife can't really comprehend them in English, so whenever I buy dvd set I process it to add Polish translation. But -- in order to play those remastered DVDs -- I had to change the Xbox DVD drive to PC DVD drive, to read DVD-R. And PC DVD drive won't read original xboxdvd discs...
Bastard Operator From 193.219.28.162
Neither is creating a backup copy of software you have purchased, nor is utilising that backup copy. As for the DMCA, there is an explicit exception for reverse engineering for interoperability that does not limit it to interoperability of software with other systems. It could just as easily be read to allow modification for interoperability with other software.
There was Cowboy Neal at the wheel of a bus to never-ever land.
Phfft. What garbage. If you arent going to release, it why even bother telling anyone? Its not like your work can be replicated ( proved ) and it makes you look like you are just making it up.
" i found out the secret of area 51, but since it might be used improperly , ill just not tell you the details ".. its about as valid as he story subject.
And as a disclaimer, im not a gamer.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Proof, rather than anecdote? I find it hard to believe that the XBox 360's drive is substantially different than any other drive that is out there, and is actually worse than the thousands of different drives that have been employed for years and years.
Please provide some actual proof of increased scratches compared to another drive or console.
You don't need this hack to run arbitrary code, only the signature hack. In fact, if there were a signature hack, you wouldn't need this, as you could change the flag telling the XBox what media the executable should be run off, and then recompute the signature, or perhaps find a collision.
For arbitrary code, you compute the signature for whatever you want - media flag and all.
im in ur
Uh.... Huh. You're a man, are you, Mr Anonymous Coward?
to hack a disc? this is the entire disc authentication system completely reverse engineered with little or no understanding of the inner working of the 360 kernel. this is a complete sidestepping of what was probably 3 years of complete tightening of all of the 360s internal communication, integrity checking and copy protection. no one made any claims about it taking a day, and when a loose community does this in 4 months it IS god damned impressive since it is more than most people on this board could do in a fucking lifetime.
If you look at the design of the 360's security system, you will see that they have taken *extreme* measures to protect against running unauthorized software, but very little protection against piracy. The anti-piracy system is more or less the same as it was on Xbox 1.
It's very obvious that Microsoft cares much more about blocking Linux and Xbox Media Player than it does about piracy. They have their priorities way out of whack.
Melissa
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
This isn't just a "Oh, I'll put this firmware on a disk and load it up and Bam!, insta-pirate!". This is a firmware for the DVD-ROM, which you first have to A) physically open up the XBox360 B) Then remove the DVD-ROM C) then desolder the firmware chip D) then read the firmware and figure out where to edit, because each DVD-ROM has a unique ID tag E) then you have to reprogram the chip using specialized equipment F) reinstall the chip and hope you didn't ruin a $400+ machine G) get a good copy of a game and hopefully it'll work.
Currently, this is *far* harder than the average modchip. Since each chip has to be custom-programmed, this isn't an easy hack, even if you did have the hacked firmware available.
Still, hopefully this is a taste of things to come. The 360 has been only out for 4 months, and this is much better progress than with the original XBox.
Even towards the more noble goal of running homebrew software on the XBox360, this hack is useful. Since it is designed to run only signed code, the obvious vector of attack is to make the signed code do something bad. One way to do this is to give the signed code malicious input, which is much easier to do now, because any unsigned content on the DVD can now be changed. (Of course, maybe the whole DVD is signed, I don't know.)
I thought of another way to fake this. Just use the rear inputs on the television hooked up to another xbox 360 with the real game in it. That'd be much easier than making a fake video.
that's ridiculous, developer support for the dreamcast was almost non-existant long before the first pirated copy. once ea dropped out it was all downhill. please, stop making things up.