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All Things Microsoft => Microsoft as a Company => Topic started by: Calum on 24 June 2002, 00:41

Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: Calum on 24 June 2002, 00:41: Read article here:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=738&e=3&u=/nm/20020603/tc_nm/tech_xbox_dc_3 (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&ncid=738&e=3&u=/nm/20020603/tc_nm/tech_xbox_dc_3)

quote:
excerpt:
MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Mon Jun 3, 7:22 PM ET
By Ben Berkowitz

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (news - web sites) said he has found a way to circumvent the security system for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox (news - web sites) video game console, opening the way for hackers to use it to run competing software, according to documents released over the weekend.

The MIT computer expert, who posted his report on his university Web site, also questioned the security behind Microsoft's soon-to-launch online service, Xbox Live, saying hackers could exploit a flaw in the system to identify individual players from their game machines.

Andrew Huang, who recently completed a PhD thesis on supercomputer architecture, wrote a memo May 26 describing his efforts to build hardware that would read the Xbox's internal security system. A link to the 15-page report was posted this weekend at technology news and discussion Web site Slashdot.org (http://www.slashdot.org).

[ June 23, 2002: Message edited by: Calum ]
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: lazygamer on 24 June 2002, 02:01: Is Xbox alot more reliable then Windows? It's the console market, woulden't it HAVE TO BE or it wouden't sell?

Oh and it always amazes me how people hack hardware security for various stuff. This guy is only in his early 20's no doubt.
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: sporkme on 25 June 2002, 04:17: ...set the building on fire...

there are very few games worth playing on xbox, i wish someone would write a damned virus for the thing and watch it spread as a plauge across their nifty new network

ps2 is quite nice tho
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: TheQuirk on 25 June 2002, 06:12: I think someone actually _will_ write a virus for it. But what would be the worse it could do? Destroy the data on the hard drive?
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: SpeeDFreaK on 25 June 2002, 08:50: That and maybe overclock the heatsink-only cooled processor? :D
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: TheQuirk on 25 June 2002, 21:19: I don't think so.. I don't own an X-Box (although a friend of mine does, maybe he'll let me take it apart) but I highly doubt it has any options to raise the FSB, for example. Besides, even if it could, and it would probably be located in the BIOS (shitty motherboards don't let you change anything -- not physiclly [jumpers] and not using a program [bios]), I don't think the virus could control that.

It could, though, fake a mesage telling the user to fix his x-box by rubbing his favorite magnet on the hard drive ;)
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: Master of Reality on 25 June 2002, 21:21: quote:
Originally posted by sporkme / bob:
...set the building on fire...

(http://www.egao.com/entertainment/bobhub/fire2.jpg)
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: Ctrl Alt Del 123 on 25 June 2002, 12:43: I'm waiting for Windows XP User #23834968394659236832756983495807139846 to reply... Ready to laugh at whatever he's going to say...
Title: MIT Grad Student Says Hacks Into Xbox Security System
Post by: KernelPanic on 29 June 2002, 21:56: Don't you just love MIT grads?
<no sarcasm>