Vista cracked

Work-a-round found by mistake

31 January 2007 16:12 GMT / By Stuart Miles

It's only been available to consumers for a day, however that hasn't stopped one enterprising Security researcher claiming that he has found a way of bypassing the means Windows Vista uses to verify that video and audio content is properly protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Writing on his blog, Alex Lonescu said that he had written code that meant that users of the new operating system could playback HD DVDs on "uncertified" computers. Found by mistake, Lonescu is wary however about releasing the new workaround for all to use out into the open for fear of being sued.

"Releasing a sample might be viewed as an anti-DRM tool, and defintely a DMCA violation … a particularly nasty group of lawyers could still somehow associate the DMCA to it, so I’m not going to take any chances", he said.

"I’d really love to release this tool to the public though, so I will look into my options — perhaps emphasizing the research aspect of it and crippling the binary would be a safe way."

Ionescu said that Microsoft could issue a patch to fix the problem but this patch could be bypassed using a similar method.

Many critics have already questioned Windows Vista's heavy stance on DRM, expecially considering some noises in the music industry that the system, which tries to make it harder to copy files, isn't having much affect on the industry as a whole.

We will keep you posted.