Posted on 11/01/2001 9:16:27 PM PST by prisoner6
November 1, 2001 08:00 CDT
Software crackers have reportedly developed a technique that bypasses the complex anti-piracy system that is supposed to protect Microsoft's new operating system Windows XP.
According to New Scientist, engineers at a UK computer security company have tested the method. They told News Scientist that they have successfully used it to install the same copy of the operating system on more than one computer. The very thing that Microsoft hoped to prevent with Windows XP.
"It's unbelievable to be honest," John Safa, chief technical officer of Bit Arts, the company that has tested the crack told New Scientist. "The cracking community appear to have bypassed the product activation altogether."
Safa added that the tools are already available on the Internet. These consist of a number of customized files and an executable software "patch". They deactivate the system that links Windows XP to a particular PC, making it possible to install the software on any number of computers.
According to New Scientist, Microsoft is still investigating the allegations and has not confirmed that it works. Nevertheless, the company is working to have web sites that provide the files shut down.
The company also stressed that the product activation system that comes with Windows XP is not meant to be infallible. "Product activation is not adequate to stop sophisticated piracy," a spokeswoman told News Scientist.
The product activation system in Windows XP is designed to prevent owners installing multiple operating systems without a license for each. This "casual copying" has been a major piracy problem in the past, Microsoft told New Scientist.
Once Windows XP is installed on a computer, the new operating system locates unique serial numbers built into different pieces of the hardware and generates a unique key. Then the user has to complete installation by registering this key over the Internet or by telephone with Microsoft. Therefore, the same version of XP cannot be registered with Microsoft for a different computer.
However, so that corporate customers do not have to distribute thousands of disks and serial numbers, a single "master" key exists that can bypass all this security for a special version of the operating system. Safa told News Scientist that the crackers have apparently obtained a copy of a master key and discovered a way to make it work with consumer editions of Windows XP.
According to one independent security expert, the security protecting Microsoft's software has often been bypassed in the past. David Litchfield of Next Generation Security Software, based in the UK, told New Scientist that "It wouldn't surprise me if this worked. This has always been the way with Microsoft products."
Source: New Scientist
Wonder if XP is up on any of the warez groups?
prisoner6
Makes ya kinda wonder if XP is as good - or bad - as their activation plot.
prisoner6
I think hackers are the "checks and balances" of the software community.
Dittos to that!
prisoner6
Now I just need someone who'll let me back up their copy in case of a fire!
prisoner6
prisoner6
Win2k was *the most vulnerable* OS to Code Red.
Anyone who uses XP before it's been out less than 2 years must not need their machine for anything critical . . . with Microsoft's history, you'd have to be financially tied to Microsoft most likely!
I don't think there are any such sites at this time with any such files!And if there are, none of you have found them, of course.
Certainly, certainly no one would ever use such a file, if it did exist and if anyone actually did find one.
Right?
patent
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