[Infowarrior] - Blu-ray ¹ s DRM crown jewel tarnished with crack of BD+

[Richard Forno]

Blu-ray¹s DRM crown jewel tarnished with crack of BD+

By Eric Bangeman | Published: November 08, 2007 - 10:53AM CT

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071108-blu-rays-drm-crown-jewel-tarni
shed-with-crack-of-bd.html

One advantage that backers of Blu-ray have touted in the format battle with
HD DVD is its extra helping of "unbreakable" DRM called BD+. It's not
unbreakable after all. SlySoft, makers of AnyDVD, have released a new beta
of their AnyDVD HD disc ripping application that it claims can successfully
crack and rip Blu-ray discs protected by BD+.

That didn't take long. Just last week the company said that a crack was
imminent, with full support for decrypting discs with BD+ protection coming
by the end of the year.

According to a SlySoft employee's post in the company forums, the AnyDVD
6.1.9.6 beta has full support for playback of Blu-ray discs with BD+. "All
available BD+ titles can be copied with AnyDVD ripper, or can be watched on
HTPC without HDCP using PowerDVD 3104 and AnyDVD," reads Tom's post.

Finalized in June 2007, BD+ uses a small virtual machine that launches when
a Blu-ray disc is inserted and runs in the background while the disc is
playing in order to keep the disc's content locked down. If it finds
evidence of tampering or copying, playback can be disabled. The code is
specific to each disc, which is intended to make it more difficult to crack,
and is erased from memory once the disc is ejected. The end result is an
additional layer of protection in addition to the AACS encryption used by
both Blu-ray and HD DVD, which was cracked back in April.

Unlike the cracking community that defeated AACS, SlySoft will keep its
crack under tight wraps. The company relies on sales of its products to fund
its anti-DRM activities. Releasing the code in the wild would allow other
developers to benefit from SlySoft's effort, something that they company
says it can't afford.

The cracking of BD+ is an indication that the VM that runs the BD+ code has
been successfully reverse-engineered by AnyDVD. The Blu-ray Disc Association
has not yet commented on the reported hack, but it can't be pleased that the
extra layer of security it has touted as a key differentiator between it and
HD DVD has apparently been compromised within months of its official launch.

This isn't game over by any means: the studios are bound and determined to
lock down the precious HD content as tightly as possible. But the news of
BD+'s apparent defeat demonstrates that industry is going to have to devote
significant time, money, and manpower to it as it attempts to stay ahead of
hackers.