Hack exposes AACS 'hole'
Keys handed over without authentication
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Hackers appear to have figured out how to access one of the crucial HD DVD encryption keys without having to authorise the data - potentially rendering the latest attempt to block such activity useless.
The crack, posted on the Xboxhacker website, uses a standard, unmodified Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD drive to hand over a disc's Volume ID without ensuring AACS has authenticated it first. Since no authentication is performed, even if the Volume ID has been rejected by the AACS Licensing Authority - the organisation that maintains the copy-protection system - it can still be used.
The Volume ID is just one of a number of keys used by AACS to encrypt a disc's content. It's used with the Processing Key held by the playback software to create the Volume Unique Key (VUK) used to decrypt the content.
The crack doesn't facilitate copying per se, but it does appear to make it possible to play back copies as if they were the real thing. Until now, this has required the drive's firmware to be patched.
Decrypting a disc to access the content - say, to burn a AACS-free copy, or to transcode the content into another format - remains difficult, not least because the Processing Key can be controlled by the AACS LA by demanding it be changed, typically by releasing a new version of the playback app.
COMMENTS
Unlike Mr Tinfoil Above...
a) i'm not posting anonymously and
b) yeah, i actually do believe that this came from hackers and not from any kind of conspiracy. I don't believe it was done in 24 hours and in fact, nobody seems to be claiming that it was.
Looks to me like somebody had been working on this for quite a while simply in order to play back copied discs (as your article mentions). There's no benefit to the hardware or media manufacturers in releases cracks of their own DRM systems.
Maybe the previous commenter would like to go back to David Icke's website and try to be less of a git.
As expected.. less than 24 hours "magically appeared" a new hack method..
...and obviously people should believe that some "young hackers geniuses", yep maybe a little baby and his/her friends.. tsk! , "did the trick" and found out a new way to bypass AACS encryption on BD and HD-DVD .. Yeah, sure.
When will IT managers stop playing this silly and pathetic jokes towards customers and simply forget about any keys,protection,encryption thing and sell products at lower prices in the first place with the ability for customers to make as many copies as they want as long as they don't make a profit out of any copy (simply because selling illegit copies and making profit out of it it's the real only and true definition of what pirating is all about).. ?
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