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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."
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.