(Source taken from CNET.com)
Microsoft appears to be using its smash "Halo 2" game as a vehicle
to crack down on mod chips and other hacks of its Xbox video game
console.
Hundreds of Xbox owners have reported in online forums in recent
days that they were banned from Xbox Live, Microsoft's online
gaming service, after trying to play "Halo 2" online with a
modified console.
A Microsoft representative would not specify which additional
security measures, if any, have been added to Xbox Live around the
"Halo 2" launch. "Microsoft listens carefully to the Xbox Live
community and reserves the right to take steps necessary to
preserve the integrity of the user experience," the representative
said in a statement. "Our goal is to provide our users with secure,
consistent and fair online game play. Users are not permitted to
manipulate the system to the detriment of others."
"Mod chips," gray-market add-ons that allow game consoles to run
imported discs, pirated games and homemade software, began
circulating for the Xbox shortly after the game machine went on
sale four years ago. Hackers who equip their Xboxes with mod chips
and other upgrades, such as bigger hard drives, have gotten the
consoles to perform all sorts of unauthorized tricks, including
running Linux software and serving as digital media centers.
Microsoft and other hardware makers have long fought against mod
chips, chiefly because those chips abet game piracy. The software
giant's activities culminated in a Justice Department raid two
years ago in which federal lawmakers took over a Web site used to
sell mod chips and swap illegally copied games.
Billy Pidgeon, an analyst for research firm Zelos Group, said
console makers have long used any means available to them to thwart
mod chips and halt illegal copying of games. The advent of online
gaming for consoles has raised the stakes, he said.
They're worried not just about enabling casual piracy but also
about cheating," Pidgeon said. "A modded Xbox can allow all sorts
of new avenues for cheating online and ruining the experience for
paying customers. I would argue that Xbox Live is a great
experience for the end user precisely because it's a closed,
controlled environment, and anything that threatens that is a real
concern for Microsoft."
As first reported by CNET News.com, Microsoft has also used Xbox
Live since its inception to crack down on mod chips and other
hacks. The Xbox Live user agreement states that "Xbox Live may only
be accessed with an unmodified, except for Microsoft-authorized
repairs and upgrades, Xbox video game console. Any attempt to
disassemble, decompile, create derivative works of, reverse
engineer, modify, further sublicense, distribute or use for other
purposes either the hardware or software of this system, is
strictly prohibited and may result in termination of your account
and/or your ability to access Xbox Live."
The agreement further gives Microsoft authority to "retrieve
information from the Xbox used to log onto Xbox Live as necessary
to operate and protect the security of Xbox Live and to enforce
this agreement."
Initial Xbox Live antihacker measures focused on checking a
console's BIOS--the software that controls basic functions of a
computing device--to ensure it was running on original Microsoft
software. Hackers got around those checks with switches and
software dongles that temporarily turn off a mod chip before
signing in to Xbox Live.
Recent updates to the Xbox Live service, made just before Tuesday's
release of "Halo 2" was set to touch off a huge surge in Xbox Live
subscriptions, appear to go much further, however. The service now
apparently checks the console's hard drive and boots any machine
with storage different than the 8GB or 10GB hard drive originally
supplied with the console. Hard drive upgrades are one of the most
common hacks for the Xbox, allowing it to serve as a digital media
jukebox.
Online forums such as Xbox Scene and Team Xecuter have logged
reports from hundreds of Xbox owners who previously were able to
access Xbox Live with their modified consoles--typically outfitted
with a mod chip and a bigger hard drive--but have been banned from
the service since trying to go online with "Halo 2."
"The Datapusher," a California systems administrator who asked that
his real name not be used, said he's outfitted his Xbox with an
Xecuter mod chip, a 200GB hard drive and some add-on software to
turn the device into a digital media center. He didn't have any
problem using Xbox Live until he got "Halo 2" this week.
"The current theory that I am subscribing to on the mass bans from
Microsoft are that when you originally signed up for their service,
they listed your hard drive in a database," Datapusher said via
e-mail. "During one of their recent...service updates, they checked
to see if the serial number of the drive matched the number listed
in their database. If you were one of the unlucky people who had
been flagged in this scan, you were banned from their service on
the eve of one of the biggest game launches I can remember."
Datapusher said he was temporarily able to regain access to Xbox
Live after some tinkering Wednesday night, but was banned again
shortly after. He vowed not to give in and buy a new Xbox, the
route reportedly taken by many hackers eager to join the online
"Halo 2" scrum. "I won't give up that easily," he vowed. "Someone
will find a way. Microsoft may be clever, but not as much so as the
open-source community...there will always be a way around Microsoft
security protocols."
Other hardware hackers reported similar experiences in online
forums, with most relating their bans to changes they made in the
Xbox hard drive. "In all honesty, I'm not really that bothered,"
said a poster at Team Xecuter, a site for mod-chip enthusiasts. "In
fact, I kind of expected to get banned sooner or later the second I
modded my box."
