Cloakware, it sounds cool no? But what is it? A new way to avoid detection by Klingons? Software to keep you dry when it rains? We asked Said Rahmani Khezri, SVP of Irdeto’s Cloakware product group to give us some details since they just signed a deal with Harmonix to protect data for their games. We’re guessing the most important of that data is the add-on content for Rock Band. Some questions were met with the equivalent of ’no comment’ or the trusted ’we could tell you but then have to kill you...’ so the interview is short. and I edited out sections that told us nothing or did not pertain to the actual question.
[GDN] If Harmonix hasn’t had any security problems, why suddenly do they need this? A new partnership would then lead me to think that perhaps they have in fact had some security issues recently.
[SRK] Harmonix relies on compelling content, such as high-quality digital music, to meet consumer demand. These resources are highly-valued digital assets that must be protected. While security can sometimes be an after-thought for many game developers, when the content involves copyrighted digital music files, security is an absolute must. With the proliferation of online gaming content becoming an increasingly hot-button issue, Harmonix chose to enhance its protection as a preventive measure.
The availability of pirated gaming content threatens the industry’s ecosystem (game companies are not making money right? -Ed.). Through its Cloakware group, Irdeto offers flexible, renewable security to make sure content stays in the proper hands. Also, making sure content owners profit from their work ensures they’ll have the resources to develop new content consumers are demanding. In this rapidly evolving market, it’s easy to see why Harmonix would place an even higher value on protecting these digital assets.
[GDN] What kind of DRM is Irdeto providing? Will it be on device or remote?
[SRK] Irdeto’s Cloakware technology licensed to Harmonix is not a digital rights management system, but rather a technology to ensure the resources and corresponding software are protected. This technology is completely transparent to consumers and does not affect their enjoyment of the game.
[GDN] Most of Irdeto’s clients are pay TV which uses Smart Cards, we’re not going to need cards for our consoles now are we?
[SRK] Irdeto is a large, global company with a variety of product groups, spanning conditional access, digital rights management and business support systems. The security technology invoked by Harmonix stems from the Cloakware software security group; it isn’t related to smart cards, but rather a technology focused on protecting software and other digital assets while in use. The technology is applicable to many markets including games, media, entertainment, conditional access and software applications.
[GDN] How will the system affect data access and usage for gamers?
[SRK] Irdeto’s security technology is transparent to gamers. Consumers will not know it is there, but will benefit from it because they now have access to compelling content since the owner of the content is satisfied it’s sufficiently protected from piracy threats.
[He makes it sound like we did not have access to the so-called compelling content prior to Irdeto’s involvement.]
[GDN] This new data protection isn’t going to require every console to be online in order to access previously purchased content, will it?
[SRK] Our security technology does not require consoles to be online. Being “online” does provide some added benefits, and Irdeto supports that model as part of security technology, but it is not a requirement.
305 days ago
I am surprised that this Irdeto company even answered your questions. Your editorial comments on the final version are way out of line if this expected to be a legitimate piece of journalism.
I am new to this site but this article caught my eye because I am a big Rock Band fan. I find your mocking tone to SRK to be most unwelcome.
Here are some specific critcisms:
"[GDN] It would appear to us that Harmonix either had some problems or didn’t have any protection. The latter is highly unlikely knowing the iron fist with which the RIAA governs its properties so it must be the second." - since you seem to find so much glee in picking apart SRK’s every comment, latter and second are the same point in this context."the industry’s ecosystem (game companies are not making money right? -Ed.)." - an almost child-like, knee-jerk response that clearly shows the hypocritical way in which you think. What if I took your content from this site, posted it on my own site without credit to you and drove enough traffic to that site to make your advertisers switch to my site because of better exposure. In that scenario, I have ignored your copyright, distributed the content to others (which I have no right to do) and deprived you of your ability to make money for your efforts. Certainly game publishers have a right to make money, as do you. Why is it somehow worse for Harmonix to make money than for you to?
[SRK] Irdeto’s security technology does not depend on any of those mechanisms. [GDN] If it comes to light later that they do, won’t that be a big pile of trouble? Remember the Sony Rootkit Scandal? What part of his response did you not understand? You are basically saying he is lying and will get caught later on. What evidence do you have he is lying? He already said it was not DRM, had impact to the consumer, didn’t require online access, and didn’t track user data access. "[note he did not correct the ’malicious hacker attack’ comment earlier which should have been cracker by his definition.] " - seriously? What are you, 12 years old? nah, nah, nah, nah boo boo... you caught him misusing a word.
"Did he just call us all hostile?" - wow again. The environment is what is hostile. If you had done any research on this article at all, you would have looked on Cloakware’s web site (as I did... and it took me all of 10 mins) and seen that they have a concept they call "white box" which is about devices being attacked where the attacker has complete access to the box and where it runs. It doesn’t take a genius to make the leap that this is exactly the type of environment a XBOX or PS3 (or PC) runs in. He was talking about trying to protect content in a hostile environment.
Anyway, I thought the article was interesting, despite your poor writing, conspiracy-theory editorials, and lack of respect for who you are interviewing.