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Полный текст статьи:
(правда, на англ.) - мой переводчик настолько коряво перевёл, что я решил выложить оригинал).
Starforce enforces DRM by instant reboot (without warning) - CD Freaks.com
Starforce enforces DRM by instant reboot (without warning)
Posted by Seбn Byrne on 21 March 2006 - 00:00 - Source: Geek.com
Despite all the problems DRM has been causing lately, it seems like
companies involved in copy protection just keep trying to create
more dangerous copy protections. Originally, they were more of a
nuisance causing compatibility issues, installing wanted software,
etc. Next came Sony Rootkits which used cloaking to hide its DRM
processes and files, but with the side affect of being able to cloak
spyware & viruses, thus causing a serious security risk. More
recently, the Settec Alpha-DVD protection has been reported to cause
DVD writers to malfunction.
Now, Futuremark* has uncovered a very dangerous anti-piracy system
Starforce is now using. This copy protection system installs a
driver that runs at the highest level of access on the system, which
gives it low level access to the PCs hardware and any drivers and
processes. This driver runs regardless of whether the game runs;
keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity such as attempting to
copy a protected disc. If something suspicious is detected, it
forces the PC to make an immediate reboot, regardless of any other
applications running and whether or not the user has any unsaved
work.
To make matters worse, this copy protection interferes with DPM
readings from software that is designed to allow the playback of
copied game discs, which means that any game backups that rely on
this Data Protection Manager will no longer play with the Starforce
protection driver in place. Finally, as the Starforce protection
has been found to interfere with certain device drivers, some
drivers will run in legacy PIO mode instead of DMA, which not only
slows down the PC by hogging CPU resources, but also slows down the
data transfer to the affected hardware.
This latest identified threat by Futuremark* is one that
relates to a driver being installed on your computer that
gains RING0 access (the highest level of access to your
computer). The installation requires Administrator level
access to install the driver, which runs all of the time
regardless of whether or not you're playing a game with
Starforce DRM.
With such a high level of processor access (sharing the same
levels the operating system enjoys), the Starforce driver can
do anything to your computer at any time. This very ability is
demonstrated, since the Starforce driver will force a reboot
(not a shutdown) when it thinks it has discovered suspicious
activity related to copying. The reboot occurs instantly, and
any and all unsaved data could be lost.
With the reported side effects of this copy protection system, this
is one thing I would not trust on any system. For example, if one
wanted to make a copy of a disc and didn?t realise they had a
Starforce protected game in their DVD-ROM drive, their PC is
rebooted without even being given a chance to save any work! Worse
still, this is likely to give some people a major headache trying to
figure out why one or more of their device drivers are acting up,
certain hardware cause the PC to run sluggish when used and so on.
However, for those who get affected or lose several hours of unsaved
work due to an unexpected reboot, chances are that they are not
going to get any compensation or sympathy from Starforce or the game
publishers using the copy protection.
* Update: According to a news post by Futuremark, apparently they
have not carried out any research or uncovered anything relating to
StarForce, however this discovery was made by users who posted about
this on their public discussion boards.
Feel free to discuss about CD/DVD copy protection measures on our
forum.
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