[GDN] What kind of ’malicious hacker attacks’ [their words, not mine] are happening to pay content in video games that require Irdeto’s DRM or conditional access systems?
That is a great question [which he fails to answer completely]. Irdeto protects some of the largest consumer brands out there, so we see some very interesting attacks. We prefer not to provide specifics; there are many sites providing such detail. [cut out towing of company line]
[GDN] Why did Harmonix feel the need to look to Irdeto, was their previous data security not up to the task?
[SRK] This is a question best answered by Harmonix. What we know is that they were impressed with the depth of Irdeto’s technology, our platform support across all consoles, our track record and our ability to deliver in their constrained time frame.
[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 prior.
[GDN] Will the Irdeto system install and run some form of software in the background on the game consoles or PCs that tracks sessions, data access, user information or any other form of data usage?
[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?
[GDN] All forms of data security seem to eventually be circumvented, how sure is Irdeto that it won’t happen in regards to Harmonix’s game content?
Given enough time and money, any protection scheme can be cracked. Anyone who says differently isn’t really active in this industry. Irdeto’s objective is to make it too expensive and time consuming for the hacker. Our security solutions are designed in such a way that they provide a tremendous level of initial attack resistance. Irdeto also has technology to ensure that a successful attack is limited to a subset of the deployed devices. If at some point in the future they are compromised, there are ways to deploy countermeasures. This is all part of the lifecycle approach to security that Irdeto’s Cloakware product group follows.
[GDN] What do you see as the difference between a hacker and a cracker?
[SRK] We consider a “hacker” to be a hobbyist or someone who likes to tinker with the underlying platform (for example, someone trying to install Linux on a game console). A “cracker” on the other hand, is someone who is deliberately trying to work around security mechanisms to obtain illegitimate access to resources or content.
[note he did not correct the ’malicious hacker attack’ comment earlier which should have been cracker by his definition.]
One of the greatest challenges Irdeto’s customers face is how to effectively protect their digital assets that exist in the “hostile user” environment. In other words, protecting software assets on open, end systems such as PCs, consoles, mobile phones and set tops, where the user has full access to try and crack them. This is a tough problem to solve and requires proven technology like Irdeto’s Cloakware products.
[My thoughts]
Did he just call us all hostile?
So what is it that Irdeto is providing Harmonix with? Well, honestly we don’t know. In matters of National Security, Area 51 and data security the answers are always obfuscated by long-winded sentences made to deflect attention away from the matter at hand. There must be a school to learn how to do that which only government officials and data security professionals have access to.
What we can tell you is that there is pirated content for Harmonix games available on the web [we did some research]. So we imagine that Harmonix’s signing of a new deal with a new data protection service must either be to assure the original owners (read music labels) of the security of any products that they might cut a deal with Harmonix on (so they get their money!).
Really, I imagine that no matter what is done, as Said said, it will be cracked and it’s all about staying ahead of the bad guys and being ever-changing because when you stand still is when they’ll get you. Plus, you’ve got to keep finding smarter people to make new ways of protecting data, might we suggest you ask some of those crackers if they want a job?
Is piracy adversely affecting the games industry? Sure, it affects all industries. But any smart company will certainly expect some level of piracy of their product in this day and age so they have to take steps to counteract that. Obviously it’s not having a debilitating effect on the games industry as it continues to grow, studios are dropping $800M to open new facilities and buying up smaller developers. It’s expected that games will hit about $50B worldwide in 2011 and piracy was around before video games so there will be a lot of data to continue to protect.
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55 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.