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aiolos

Fri 18 May, 2007


AACS Copy Protection For DVDs Defeated Again

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Digital rights management suffered another setback Thursday when Antigua-based software company SlySoft reportedly updated its AnyDVD HD software with a new AACS encryption code to enable the copying of ostensibly protected HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Earlier this month,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> the Advanced Access Content System Licensing Administrator <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>(AACSLA)<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> the organization that oversees the licensing of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray video players,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> infuriated DRM foes by sending Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to Web sites demanding the removal of the online posts containing the compromised AACS code.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Digg,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> one of the sites that received a takedown notice,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> angered its users by attempting to censor user-submitted posts that contained the code.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> The site's users retaliated by posting the code faster than it could be removed and ultimately succeeded in ending the censorship effort.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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In mid-April,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> the AACSLA said that it had <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"expired"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> cracked AACS encryption keys,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> requiring consumers and manufacturers to update their video players with a new key though an online download.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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Discs to be released next week will be the first to blacklist compromised keys,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> according to J.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Alex Halderman,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> a Princeton computer science grad student.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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But SlySoft appears to have a new key to the AACS digital lock.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> The AACSLA can also expire this key but it will take weeks.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> In the meantime,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> the discs on the market will be copyable.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>
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<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"To be successful in the long run,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> AACS needs to outpace such attacks,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Halderman said in a blog post.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> <b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"Its backers might be able to accelerate the blacklisting cycle somewhat by revising their agreements with player manufacturers,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> but the logistics of mastering discs and shipping them to market mean the shortest practical turnaround time will be at least several weeks.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Attackers don't even have to wait this long before they start to crack another player.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Like SlySoft,<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> they can extract keys from several players and keep some of them secret until all publicly known keys are blacklisted.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> Then they can release the other keys one at a time to buy additional time.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b> All of this is yet more bad news for AACS.<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>"<b style="color:#FFA34F"></b>