Apple AirPlay unlocked

AirPort Express hardware sims are go

By Tony Smith, 11th April 2011

The cryptography Apple uses to secure AirPlay wireless media streams - and to prevent anyone easily supporting the protocol for playback - has been cracked.

Frustrated by the lack of a third-party AirPort Express simulator - APEx is Apple's mini access point-cum-media streaming terminal - coder James Laird opened one up and reverse engineered the crypto keys from the gadget's Rom chip.

The resulting code, called ShairPort, allows content held in an iTunes library to be streamed to third-party software and hardware.

Some hardware makers already license the tech for their products.

Streaming is handled by Apple's Remote Audio Output Protocol (RAOP). The key required to allow third-party apps and kit to stream to an AirPort Express was found in 2008 by 'DVD Jon' Lech Johansen.

So far, it only works with iTunes running under Windows, but Laird said he is working to fix playback from the Mac version of the media library app.

Expect Apple to push out AirPort firmware updates any moment now. ®

Customer Success Testimonial: Recovery is Everything

COMMENTS

House Rules Send Corrections

All Reader Comments (4)

Highly Rated

Posted Monday 11th April 2011 13:36 GMT

Anonymous Coward

Ah yes, but what will they learn?

A) That they need to have better security design and DRM

B) Make it "open", and more like webkit, and give up the arms race they will ultimately lose anyway

One will earn you a slap on the back, the other, just a slap. Try and guess which one Apple chooses!

Posted Monday 11th April 2011 12:41 GMT

Pet Peeve

Can't put the genie back

If the private key is in rom, and it has to be, then it will just be found again. It's another AACS, when are they going to learn?

Posted Wednesday 13th April 2011 10:12 GMT

Anonymous Coward

I can't help thinking ...

I can't help thinking that the people who actually wrote the code that does all this stuff know that it's futile. Which leads one to ask why they did it in the first place, and at whose behest?

Could it possibly be the music and video publishing companies again? (Who, despite frequent counter-examples, still believe that copy protection is possible.)