Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Licence keys

It's been a while since my last post, and I apologize a lot for that.. So much stuff has been going on lately :(

Anyway, today I'm gonna talk a little about licence keys. We all know that when we install a certain game on our computer, in many cases it requires us to enter a CD-key to install the program. This sort of thing is used a lot of other places as well - not just on games. Licence keys are also located in shareware programs and licenced programs to keep track of Expiration dates and to make sure the product key isn't shared with others. These keys are usually comfirmed online to see if they're real and to see if they're being used on more than 1 computer at a time. Certain programs even give you an online account where you register your key into and then have to be logged onto the internet for the program to run properly.

The keys themselves are developed from advanced mathematical algorithms and are thus able to be cracked. This is where the so called "Key-generators" come in. They provide you with keys in the advanced key algorithm that are accepted by the program at first. However, in many of todays programs and games, when you try to go online with it - you'll be stopped by a server check if your key is fake.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Digital rights management (DRM)

It's been a while since my last post seeing as I've been rather busy lately.. But here's another stage of the security posts - DRM.

Basicly DRM technologies is used in some cases to limit the amount of times a user can install his game on seperate computers (usually limited to 5). Now this causes a whole lot of problems in and of itself, seeing as if you format your harddrive, get some new hardware or uninstall the game to find out you want to play it again later, you'd have problems! This limits the end user quite a bit and has been seeing a lot of critic from a lot of people. Spore was especially in the spotlight of this rage amongst the users, and it not really being used as much now adays anymore. Instead we're seeing Ubisoft's DRM system enter the light - also explained in the last post (as it is in fact a merge of the 2 parts). As previously mentioned, Ubisoft simple had parts of their game stored on a server meaning cracking it took a long time.

DRM technology is not only used for games, but also E-books, music, films and a lot of other digital things. There is also a DRM system called "DRM-X" which requires you to use special software to access the file. This system has however not been implemented in any of the modern games I've seen so far and I think it's mostly used for E-books.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Online Accounting

We're going a bit simple today! The next anti-pirating on the board here is going to be online accounting services. This includes but is not limited to World of Warcraft, Symantic software, Windows Live and Ubisoft's Assassins Creed 2.

The way these generally work is to make the user log into an account every time he wants to play the game to verify the CD-key is correct and that the game hasn't been cracked by any means. Ubisoft and Blizzard both has games where the game data (graphics, sounds etc) are stored on the users computer, while the object positions are stored on the servers of the publishers and downloaded on the go by the user. The only way to basically get around this protection is for a cracker to create an emulation of the server. This requires them to program and figure all the codes of the server themselves, which often is no easy task - even for skilled programmers. (Surely though, creating emulated servers and running them is against the Copyright law.. So as always, you'll need a good atorney if you get caught! If you've been making money on the server, you'd surely be facing a chapter 13 personal bankruptcy! Haha!)

How do you feel about having to log in every time you play a game?

Friday, November 5, 2010

Lower Layer Protection

So I just wanted to make a quick update. I've been extremely busy lately with university, but now I'm going to start out lightly with some gaming protection that I promised you all a few days ago.

I'm going to start with a thing we probably all know called "Lower Layer" protection

This type of protection is where the DVD is split up into having a lower "hidden" layer, where some special key information is stored. You can think of this as the key, to open the game. This is why many games will ask you to put in the DVD when you want to start up your game. This is smart seeing as the lower layer is hard to directly copy to another disc and thus re-sell the product.

In many situations, this is a rather annoying thing seeing as no one really wants to have 20 DVD's lying around, especially if you're on a laptop.

This also means that many legit users are using ways to get rid of this protection, to be able to play their games without having to use the DVD every time. (Although, if the cracker himself would get caught he'd be facing a personal chapter 7 or chapter 13 bankruptcy as the state isn't looking politely on these kind of things.. But hey.. As long as you're not a cracker, that's not a problem is it? :P)

Anyone on here annoyed by having to use their DVD every time as well? I know I am :P

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Upcoming Game security information

A quick update as to what I'm doing lately .. I've started reading a huge book on software security with a specialization in games.. Now I was wondering if it is something that you would like to hear some about as well for me to post on my blog here?

Basically it's some interesting material as to what the companies do wrong, how they should be doing it and some key security aspects that are being used in the modern world today..

This is especially interesting to those who are in software and game development, but also quite a nice read to people who are simply entertained by reading about security protocols and methods such as CD-Keys, Lower-Layer Protection and prevention of piracy, cheating and griefing!

Friday, October 29, 2010

Casuality! It's time!

So yeah.. I'm starting to get over my Auto Insurance stuff :P Figured it was quite a while since I had last blogged I figured I had to make a post again..

I was browsing around watching some different clips on youtube and I figured I could fill a post with some funny material!



Not only is it funny, it's also quite cute ! :P I wish I had a dog like that ;P

( Also, if you're looking for much more "ROFL" posts - check out my 2nd blog at http://somuchlol.blogspot.com )

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Auto Insurance Quotes

So yeah.. I've just recently gotten the bill for my Car insurance and may I say that it pains me to see the price yet again (Pains me every year).. I know this post may be a bit random, but I really felt like sharing my agony with you guys!

Auto Insurance Quotes sound so good when they tell you about em.. But they all seem the same when you put it down on paper!

Am I the only one doesn't like the prices of this type of insurance!? :P

Sorry for the short post.. I'll post double tomorrow ;)

Monday, October 25, 2010

FALCON .... PUUUUUNCH!!! (Oh wait! - Sucker Punch!)

So how many of you would love to see a movie which has a combination of stripper chicks, guns, swordfights, guns, mafias and... DRAGONS!! .. Also it has guns..

Well it's coming ! March 2011 is the release date of a new movie called "Sucker Punch". This movie includes all of the above mentioned things and a lot of action! It's packed with crazy special effects and amazing graphics! Go ahead, check the trailer yourself:



Oh I'm surely going to go see this in 3D in the cinema! How about you guys?

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Blizzcon accident!

So as some of you may or may not know Blizzcon, a huge gaming conference setup by Blizzard Entertainment for their games, is being held this weekend.. During the event there are several contests such as tournaments in the games for professionals, best costume and cosplay, but also a dance contest.. Now this poor guy who is obviously cosplaying an undead male from World of Warcraft is going to do the dance and is jumping a little bit too high imo, lands wrong and... Yeah well.. You should go ahead and watch the clip yourself.. (Don't worry, it doesn't look crazy or anything and shouldn't really gross anyone out :P)

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Social Network

Ok so, seeing as I'm quite a bit tired today and feeling forced to kinda post SOMETHING on my blog to give you guys something to read, I felt like posting something about facebook - the movie!

I'm not going to post a whole lot of spoilers, but there will be a slight few.. If you havent seen the movie yet, I can easily recommend it though! It's a fantastic movie which gives a lot to talk about afterwards as well!

The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has finally revealed in an interview, which parts of the movie he finds to be truth and which are wild guesses and fantasy from the scripters side.. Amongst the things he found very impressive were the fact that all the clothes the actor acting Mark Zuckerberg was wearing were identical to clothes that the real Mark has in his drawer! Now that's quite a lot of homework someone's been doing there.. I'd suffice it to say it's a bit scary don't you think? Knowing all the clothing details? Hmmm! I'll let you decide what to think about this one ;)

A really big deal in the movie is the motivation that made Mark create Facebook.. In the movie, [SMALL SPOILER] he does it mainly for popularity and girls! Lots and lots of girls! I could agree that that is a valid point of view and could have been a possibility if it wasn't because the real Mark Zuckerberg already had a girlfriend at the time he started creating facebook, and he still has her today.. This concludes that girls was really not a motivation in the making of Facebook, but rather the fact that he wanted to create something new and innovative.. Something that would change the world!

So have you guys seen the movie yet? If so, what do you think about it? If not, are you going to see it?

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Power cut!

Well well, today we're sitting here at the university with absolutely no power for our laptops.. The power has been cut to swap out some cables and a box that spreads the power out to the entire building. So I have about 50 minuttes left on my battery.. Yes!! Wonderful.. And I've got about 7 hours left here.. What to do .. What to do..

We're having this lesson about security.. What kind of security do we possibly need to know about as a programmer? That we'll dash our heads into the computer keyboard because we fall asleep on the job? This is gonna be interesting..

Luckily enough though I have my mobile to kill boredom.. And other than that I guess I'll have to just take notes I guess :P haha!

To make sure this post is not all super boring life material, I'd like you to see this Just for Laughs (thanks BLUERAD for reminding me of this awesome series of lulz!)

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Bored - What do you do?

So I've been talking about how boring math is on my twitter lately, but now a new subject has come to my table and this one is even more boring! We're basicly learning a whole lot of elementary stuff that we've heard before. Without going into further describtion of the subject - I'm going to talk about a little fun way I use to get past this boredom.

About 5-10 years ago I played a game called Transport Tycoon. It recently got to my attention again when I noticed someone playing it during a lesson. Appearently there's a new and free version of it out there called "Open TTD". I use a lot of time to play this game, combine the transportation methods, crash some planes and loose 7 million dollars on that and what not. It's really fun once you get into it!

But now I'd like to ask you, what would/do you use to kill time during small boring lessons of no importance? ;)

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Hello World!

Ah yes.. The first blog post and also the starter of the programming language of C.. The very first program ever made was a simple program, posting "Hello World!" on a screen with a simple "Printf("Hello World!")" command.

I'm going to be talking a little more advanced in the future however - seeing as the simple Hello World is filling us all with a sense of IMMERSING boredom and the feeling of "GOD We're not THAT stupid!"

But seeing as this is my first introductionary blogging post, this is all I'm going to write for today. I'm hoping to see a lot of bloggers visit my site awaiting exciting future post! Especially seeing as I'm going to be making a lot of exciting programs in the future, and this is where I'm going to show my current work and ideas.

Welcome to my blog!