Blu-Ray even easier to crack than HD DVD?
updated 05:05 pm EST, Tue January 23, 2007
Blu-Ray cracked
Just weeks after a crack for HD DVD discs was declared, the same fundamental principle has been applied to Blu-Ray's copy protection, says The Register. Also devised by the same hacker, "muslix64," the new crack is based on the same text attack method used for HD DVD, but did not even require a native drive to gain access to DRM information.
Both Blu-Ray and HD DVD use a scheme called the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) to prevent unauthorized copies; the cracks function by fetching a movie's unique DRM key, which is then used to fool AACS. Since a different key exists for every title, it's impossible to write a universal decryption tool, but muslix64 has written a key extractor to simplify the process. The software may ultimately prove of little value, however, as each of the current HD formats can have its protection upgraded in subsequent versions.
