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How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

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Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#231

Post by kevincox »

callesgg wrote: post #218
lfodofod wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can’t produce good quality rips like this, if that was the best solution the DRM people would have won.

You can produce pixel perfect rips. But since the resulting video file is so large you will "need" to compress it, and then you get compression on compression artefacts.

It would be really interesting to make a video compressor that specializes in "recompressing" previously compressed data. A simple version could be special handling of common compression artifacts and trying to detect various transforms and trying to take advantage of the detail already removed instead of removing additional detail.

If you knew the codec used originally you could even try to (near) perfectly reconstruct the original bitstream. Especially if you know various codec parameters and some side-channel data (such as which video data is contained in which encrypted blocks) it may be possible to relatively efficiently search for the bitstream that decompresses to the data that you are seeing.

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#232

Post by hot_gril »

tpxl wrote: post #220
hot_gril wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Biggest thing is they're running Windows games on Linux via Wine, and idk how happy Microsoft is with that.

> how happy Microsoft is with that Not very happy, and there is absolutely nothing they can do about it.

They own the libraries, a large part of the build toolchain these game devs are using, and in some cases the game studios themselves. It's already quite difficult for Wine to be compatible with every program, and anti-cheat can be especially problematic. I feel like they can break this if they want to.

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#233

Post by npc12345 »

extasia wrote: post #3
everyone wrote: post #2

I will never understand why people buy that locked down, proprietary, DRM infested shit (gaming consoles, "smart" appliances, smartphones, apple stuff etc.) in the first place. .. I would rather have nothing.

What's the alternative? Rub sticks together?

[dead]

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#234

Post by pixelbath »

vel0city wrote: post #227
aesyondu wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For what it's worth, I've never owned a console of any kind in my life, but I would really like to own a Steam Deck. Though I could buy the Steam Deck now, I am eagerly waiting for Steam Deck 2 just to see if there are lessons-learned-improvements from the first iteration.

> Though I could buy the Steam Deck now, I am eagerly waiting for Steam Deck 2 just to see if there are lessons-learned-improvements from the first iteration. Just wait for the Steam Deck 3, where they'll solve all the problems that don't even exist yet on the Steam Deck 2. Or better yet, might just wait for the Steam Deck 5 just to make sure they've finally ironed out all the kinks.

It's Valve; you know there will never be a third iteration.

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#235

Post by [deleted] »

jchw wrote: post #169
stefan_ wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was not a security feature at all, it wasn't securing anything? This is purely a feature to allow Microsoft to resell hard drives at 3x the price.

Sounds like semantics to me. I think you will agree that security in computing is not just "prevent people from getting hacked" or some static goal like that, but rather security is the management of "threats" under a given "threat model". DRM, for example, is DEFINITELY a form of security software. DRM is an attempt to uphold policies around the access and/or copying of digital data such that access, distribution, e…

[deleted]

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#236

Post by alexklarjr »

gymbeaux wrote: post #228
Jorengarenar wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don’t think Xbox Dev Mode is really worth a damn. You can sideload apps but it’s not a vector for piracy That's the point

The person I’m replying to make it sound like Xbox Dev Mode came about because Microsoft was tired of trying to keep hackers out, but the reality is Microsoft has kept hackers out. You can’t jailbreak an Xbox One.

yet, valid for january, 2023

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#237

Post by danudey »

userbinator wrote: post #159
RandomBK wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every time I hear about the XBox's platform security, I think back to this talk [1] about how Microsoft protected the XBox One. A lot of it boils down to clear requirements and good engineering, and many of these technologies are now showing up via Project Pluton. [1] https://www.platformsecuritysummit.com/2019/speaker/chen/

and many of these technologies are now showing up via Project Pluton. More awareness needs to be made of how this will have a devestating impact on end-user freedom. They're attacking the PC, one of the last holdouts of general-purpose computing freedom. Remote attestation will make it so you "can" technically run your own hardware and software (and that's what the FUD-spreaders will always say), but you'll be denied…

> More awareness needs to be made of how this will have a devestating impact on end-user freedom. They're attacking the PC, one of the last holdouts of general-purpose computing freedom.

This situation reminds me of the fuss around Palladium, a solution which seemed to be abandoned by Microsoft on its merits:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next-Generation_Secure_Computi...

> Edit: nice, downvotes. Hello corpo-authoritarians, we know what's up :-)

This also reminds me of the fuss around Palladium:

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/07/22/m

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#238

Post by danudey »

calo_star wrote: post #168
userbinator wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and many of these technologies are now showing up via Project Pluton. More awareness needs to be made of how this will have a devestating impact on end-user freedom. They're attacking the PC, one of the last holdouts of general-purpose computing freedom. Remote attestation will make it so you "can" technically run your own hardware and software (and that's what the FUD-spreaders will always say), but you'll be denied…

Not to mention that no design is absolutely safe, and if security enclaves like Pluton get exploited to run backdoor, it'll be a lot harder for end user to detect.

See also: Intel Management Engine exploits.

https://kakaroto.ca/2019/11/exploiting-intels-management-eng...

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#239

Post by danudey »

zppln wrote: post #210
Jorengarenar wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>XBox wins the generation. The winner of 7th generation was clearly Nintendo with their Wii: over 100 million units. And the funny thing is 2nd place: PS3! Just at the end of the generation it managed to outnumber X360.

Yup, MS really threw it all away with their Kinect play.

And then they took this strategy into the XBox One generation: everyone gets a Kinect! For $100 more than the competition! And it's always listening, and you have to have it connected for the system to boot!

Piling onto that with "we're getting rid of game sharing or the resell market" and "our new console is going to be your entertainment hub, i.e. it's going to be jammed full of shit most gamers don't want!" and the launch was just... ugh.

Re: How the Xbox 360 knows if your hard drive is genuine

#240

Post by Jorengarenar »

gymbeaux wrote: post #228
Jorengarenar wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don’t think Xbox Dev Mode is really worth a damn. You can sideload apps but it’s not a vector for piracy That's the point

The person I’m replying to make it sound like Xbox Dev Mode came about because Microsoft was tired of trying to keep hackers out, but the reality is Microsoft has kept hackers out. You can’t jailbreak an Xbox One.

If I recall correctly, Microsoft was about to cripple down the Dev Mode, what caused in the community, what led to increased interest in hacking X1, what made MS back off on their decision, after what the discussions quieten down.

I won't claim Dev Mode is their solution to hacker, but there seems to be some correlation.

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