HD DVD encryption defeated

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Let me clarify a few things:

It was AACS that was compromised, not HD DVD. BOTH formats use AACS.
Blu-ray has an additional layer of protection in BD+, but there are no
production companies using it yet. So BOTH formats have been compromised
by this software.

Here's the cool part: AACS was designed from the ground-up to be
adaptive. They learned their lesson with DVD. Any keys that make it into
"the wild" can be disabled from being used to decrypt discs in the
future. Also, any software that "leaks" these keys can have them revoked
by AACS, rendering the playback software useless ... and prevent that
same version of software from pulling keys on later discs.

How can it do this? I thought you'd never ask. All AACS PC Hardware has
to "check-in" via internet connection to verify it is not using
compromised keys. I recall that interval being 3 days. So it is forced
into compliance with current keysets.

Now here's where I get fuzzy: On the hardware side, I understand that
not only will the hardware "check-in" via internet connection as well,
but also that compromised serial numbers are actually written to future
presses of discs. so if your hardware is used to break copy protection,
it can be blocked from playing discs in the future.

Again the latter part of this email is from information available at
last years CES ... of which some might not yet be implemented, but I am
in the process of verifying it not for an article on the subject.

Bottom line: AACS was compromised, but is likely to adapt quickly so
that the content on future media is once again protected.

Shane Sturgeon


Jason Burroughs wrote:
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>
> It's official - early HD-DVD titles have been "backed up" to hard disk.
>
> The rumor is that Cyberlink, maker of PowerDVD, wrote poor software
> that left the secret key in RAM - so someone figured out how to pull
> that key down and copy the files to disk directly. It's also rumored
> that this means every title on the market is vulnerable, and that
> manufacturing lines will need to cut over to a new key, which would
> require an update on the players' firmware. All this is heresay, but I
> know for sure that it's been cracked and the floodgates have opened.
> We'll see how successful they are at closing them, and what lessons
> blu-ray learns from this.
>
> Most interesting will be if this ability helps or hinders hd-dvd in
> comparison to blu-ray. My guess is that, along with the xbox360 $200
> addon player, it will be a tremendous help.
>
> I hope it goes without saying that this is not an endorsement of
> piracy, and there should be no discussion of actually doing this
> yourselves. But I think it's an important subject that may be a key
> factor in the adoption of these technologies.
>
> Jason
>
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