Vulnerability Development: Re[2]: Software authentication (was RE: Gibson (was Crack Office XP))

[dullien () gmx de]

Hey Marc,

MC> I think it's due to the current underground culture. As the traditional
MC> crackers went pro (many of the people who cracked games now work in the games 
MC> industry), the new breed didn't understand how to do the more complex 
MC> cracking (reverse engineering the copy protection). Instead, they focused on 
MC> generating serial numbers.
MC> Call it a degradation of skills over time, if you will.

I would not prematurely judge the quality of the work here. The game
cracking scene is more or less dead as most games use some silly
plug-in protection such as CDilla etc. So some individuals create
universal unwrappers which are never released, and the game releasing
groups use those to crack their releases.
I have seen work which bordered onto to professional cryptanalysis in
the field and would not dare to describe it as dead.

MC> The cracking scene died with the demo scene though... it was more about fame 
MC> than piracy, Unfortuneatly, people started ignoring the skilled ones and just 
MC> got the software. The incentive for inventive cracks is no longer there, so 
MC> all that remains are the people who just do the piracy...

It will definitely see a re-surge with Digital Rights Management

MC> A little bit of history for you:
MC> Some developers used to leave hidden messages in the code for the more well 
MC> known crackers. In return for this fame, the crackers would help the 
MC> developers imporve the copy protection (so the cracker would have a greater 
MC> challenge).

Sigh...those were the days :)

Cheers,
dullien () gmx de