The next generation copy protections

[Shoebedobedoo]

The next generation copy protections

Currently Macrovisions SafeDisc and the protection of Sony called SecuRom are the protections on many CDs. These protections can be painfull to make backups from, but with the right combination of hardware and software, it should not be a problem.

Also the developers of copy protections have discovered this and currently more and more next generation copy protections are entering the market. It is very likely more and more consumers will be confronted with them.

The next generation copy protections are not widely used yet, but they are gaining ground and there are reasons to believe that they will once become mainstream. These new protections make the current widely available copy protections child play, and are much more sopisthicated. They are based on recognizing the physical parameters/structure of a CD-R. Don't fear, altough these protection are better then anything we have seen before, making a backup seems still to be possible. It just requires some more hassle. First we should explain how these new protections seem to work.

Nowadays almost everyone that owns a computer has a CD-RW drive. Making copies of CDs and backing up software is populair and still not hard enough to stop people making pirated copies. At the start of the CD-RW technology you had only software that could copy a CD. It was designed to drag and drop the files and burn them. In those days you could pick a CD, and copy it without any hassle. The populairty of this has however caused that software developers have started to find methods to make it as difficult as possible to stop people from copying Cds.

A little history:

The first protection that was used were oversized Cds of 700 MB. These were CDs that exceeded the data capicaty of 650 MB which was the only size of CD-Rs available on the market in those days. It didn't take long before the CD-R industry was releasing 700 MB CD-Rs. After that, a new protection hit the scene, the fake TOC. The table of contents that describes the files that are on the CD was modified in such a way that Windows and the burning software reported that the CD contained several GBs of data. The burning software refused to write it because it could only write a maximum of 700 MB to the CD-R.

Also this was solved pretty easily and most software was updated with a 'fix TOC' option. After that the next generation protections appeared, they are the protections as we currently know them, altough they have been evolving in the past years. Most of these protections are based on errors that are pressed in the CD. These errors are made intentional in the fabrication process and were at the time the protections appeared not reproducable by the software. People needed cracks if they wanted backup.

Till now our hero:

Then someone in Germany named Oliver Kastl found out that the instruction set of some writers could retrieve the errors and write them. What is now called RAW reading and writing is based on retrieving the data ,how it is put on the CD, and not correct all errors (what a CD(-ROM) player normally does – against fingerprints and scratches). As he once told me, he owned a Plextor drive and was comitted to backup a CD and could not find a way with the software that was at that time available. He also found out that not every CD-RW drive was able to read and write these errors as they were on the disc and this is unfortunately still the case.

But the software he developed, CloneCD, became a hit and is currently one of the most used burning software. Because the developers of the protection also kept an eye on what was going on and noticed that their protections were beaten they still updated their protections and that is why we now have protections that check the ATIP code to determine if you are playing from the original CD or from a backup. Also protections based on subchannels are populair. CloneCD was always able to beat it. Also other software appeared on the market, Blindwrite and CD-Mate are currently the best known competitors of CloneCD.

As it is currently possible to copy any CD, if you have the right combination of hardware and software the software developers had to find another way to protect their properties, as they believe making copies/backups hurts their industry. And of course the developers of copy protections are smart enough to find other ways to prevent the user from making backups. The next generation copy protections are not based on simple error correction, faking data or reading ATIP code. They found something different, what?

/http://www.cdfreaks.com/news2.php3?ID=4604

Shoebedobedoo

[VIPER_1069]

this is old hat news shoeb we have known about many variants of copy protection that CANNOT be copied to date and olli knows this too !!!
yes cd freaks posted this yesterday and even they have posted about the protections i mention here ...

this is an article from this forum by me i pasted it here to save others looking ...


there are a few new protections out there now here is some info on the latest top 3


info from cdmedia W

Phenoprotect

Company: Codecult

Protection : Phenoprotect

Version :1.0

How to Detect : Use Clony XXL

Backup Solution : Unknown as of yet!

Protected : Carrera Grand Prix [18-10-2001]

Protection Info

Phenoprotect produces read errors directly on the CD-ROM in areas which do not contain any game data, but can be checked by programs. CD Writers report these as unreadable sections. There areas cannot be copied to the hard drive.

The specific software, e.g. the game and the InstallShield used for installation can, however, contain instructions from the software manufacturer to check this erroneous data, if this data is not found when the program started, it is not an original version and the game or installation is terminated.

Windows 9x operation systems cannot read the erroneous sections. Any attempt to copy will result in the operation system aborting the process.

Protection Problems

As it seems this protection is not fool-proof as a lot of people are reporting problems trying to install/ play their original Carrera Grand Prix CD!



protection :-

Star Force

Company: Protection Technology Co.

Protection : Star Force

Version: 1.3

How to Detect: Unknown as of yet!

Backup Solution: Unknown as of yet!

Protected : Codename: Outbreak [12-10-2001]


Protection Info

There are currently 3 Star Force products available:

Star Force Professional
Copy protection system for software distributed on CDs. Designed mainly for software producers and factories.
Star Force CD-R
Copy protection system for software distributed on CDs made with CD-writers. Designed for users, software producers and developers of any level.
Star Force Protection for Shareware
Protection system against software cracks. Designed for software producers and developers of all levels.

Star Force Professional

SFP detects if it is running from a backup created using a CD-Writer or factory CD-Backup equipment.
It is impossible to make a backup using CloneCD, CDRWin, BlindWrite, etc. and protected CDs do not run on CD emulators (DAEMON Tools, Virtual CD-ROM, etc.)
No special equipment is needed to apply Star Force. The only thing needed is a PC and the SFP Wizard to access one of the Star Force protection servers (protect.star-force.com, protect2.star-force.com or protect3.star-force.com).
SF protected CDs are fully compatible with various existing CD drives. This is due to the unique method which Star Force uses to detect the original copy without interfering in the disc's physical structure.
Protection system uses a 14 digit alphanumerical key, which is entered only once - at the first launch. The key will only work with the given CDs parcel.
SF works under Win9x, WinME, WinNT & Win2K.


protection:-

TAGES (more info on this also posted here !!)

Company : Thomson & MPO

Protection : TAGES

Media : CD-ROM & DVD-ROM

Version : 1.0

How to Detect : Use Clony XXL

Backup Solution : Replacing the protected executable by a fixed executable (same as most patched games then eh lol !? )

Protected : Moto Racer 3 [03-12-2001]

Protection Info

TAGES, developed by MPO and Thomson-CSF, is based on the latest technologies for the manufacture of discs and the development of anti-copy digital processes.

TAGES can be implemented at various stages of software development and its anti-copy functions can be customized to meet the specific needs of developers and publishers.

TAGES enables you to choose how the protection affects unauthorized copies, from slightly modifying to completely blocking the functioning of the software.

TAGES is completely transparent to the end-user and does not require any specific set-up or on line transaction before launching the protected software.

TAGES uses new encryption and authentication technologies compatible with standard multi-media PC computers and drives.


and there are some more that i havent pasted here as there is little or no info about them to post !!



there are lot of threads posted here with protections that are still unbeaten !

[Shoebedobedoo]

viper,
News was posted yesterday at CD Freaks. Also, Clony XXL called it quits. Yup, goner as in abracadabra, POOF!

Shoebedobedoo

[VIPER_1069]

even thats old news re clony we knew here that the the creator of clony had stopped making it search the forum and read the posts here in this very forum!!! even N.B. Can vouch for that he translated the GERMAN to english !!! f.y.i

also if you read my post correctly you will read this part right near the top it says ...

> yes cd freaks posted this yesterday and even they have posted about the protections i mention here ... <

[Shoebedobedoo]

No argument here but don't recommend ClonyXXL cause' prog can't detect SecuROM3 *new* found on Warcraft III, Neverwinter Nights. I ditched ClonyXXL and using YaPs (Yet another protection scanner), Safedisc Analyser, and TCCD Scout m8

Shoebedobedoo

[Josh NeverMind]

Thanx for da info
It's nice to be up to date what's going on on copy-protections
This is a cdr-forum, after all
Heard about Tages which claims to be unbeatable, but has not been proven yet.
No question that copy-protections are getting more and more sophisticated, and IMHO this forum is da right place for sharing infos

[VIPER_1069]

@ josh there are crack patches out there for tages on motoracer as mentioned above f.y.i

altho i dont think they work with copies or attempted copies of the original game only an iso of motoracer that was put out by a cracking group

[Josh NeverMind]

Thanx Viper

Seems that there is already some working on Tages
Sure, i do not have the complete background of tages copy-prot, but in yo info i can read that there is still no way of making a working copy only by hardware
Btw - found a short info of another kind of copy-prot:

An OPSECURE PROTECTED CD looks like a
regular CD but contains a smart card and
optical input-output system.

The technology turns EVERY CD and DVD
drive into a smart card reader.

The technology requires NO additional
hardware or setup and runs on regular PC
configuration.

The killer application of the technology is
ANTI PIRACY.