Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study
This paper discusses the hardware foundations of the cryptosystem employed by the Xbox(TM) video game console from Microsoft. A secret boot block overlay is buried within a system ASIC. This secret boot block decrypts and verifies portions of an external FLASH-type ROM. The presence of the secret bo...
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| Language: | en_US |
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2004
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6694 |
| _version_ | 1826203746783199232 |
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| author | Huang, Andrew "bunnie" |
| author_facet | Huang, Andrew "bunnie" |
| author_sort | Huang, Andrew "bunnie" |
| collection | MIT |
| description | This paper discusses the hardware foundations of the cryptosystem employed by the Xbox(TM) video game console from Microsoft. A secret boot block overlay is buried within a system ASIC. This secret boot block decrypts and verifies portions of an external FLASH-type ROM. The presence of the secret boot block is camouflaged by a decoy boot block in the external ROM. The code contained within the secret boot block is transferred to the CPU in the clear over a set of high-speed busses where it can be extracted using simple custom hardware. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the Xbox security system. One lesson of this study is that the use of a high-performance bus alone is not a sufficient security measure, given the advent of inexpensive, fast rapid prototyping services and high-performance FPGAs. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:42:43Z |
| id | mit-1721.1/6694 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:42:43Z |
| publishDate | 2004 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/66942019-04-12T08:31:50Z Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study Huang, Andrew "bunnie" AI Tamper-resistant hardware Microsoft Xbox Cryptography Privacy Public Key Algos This paper discusses the hardware foundations of the cryptosystem employed by the Xbox(TM) video game console from Microsoft. A secret boot block overlay is buried within a system ASIC. This secret boot block decrypts and verifies portions of an external FLASH-type ROM. The presence of the secret boot block is camouflaged by a decoy boot block in the external ROM. The code contained within the secret boot block is transferred to the CPU in the clear over a set of high-speed busses where it can be extracted using simple custom hardware. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the Xbox security system. One lesson of this study is that the use of a high-performance bus alone is not a sufficient security measure, given the advent of inexpensive, fast rapid prototyping services and high-performance FPGAs. 2004-10-08T20:38:06Z 2004-10-08T20:38:06Z 2002-05-26 AIM-2002-008 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6694 en_US AIM-2002-008 15 p. 837733 bytes 527464 bytes application/postscript application/pdf application/postscript application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | AI Tamper-resistant hardware Microsoft Xbox Cryptography Privacy Public Key Algos Huang, Andrew "bunnie" Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study |
| title | Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study |
| title_full | Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study |
| title_fullStr | Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study |
| title_short | Keeping Secrets in Hardware: the Microsoft Xbox(TM) Case Study |
| title_sort | keeping secrets in hardware the microsoft xbox tm case study |
| topic | AI Tamper-resistant hardware Microsoft Xbox Cryptography Privacy Public Key Algos |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6694 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT huangandrewbunnie keepingsecretsinhardwarethemicrosoftxboxtmcasestudy |