4 ms·

Voltage glitching for secret/rom extraction has a long and storied history. It's the basis of how DirecTV cards were compromised in the late 90s/early 00s.

Scoundreller 5y ago
Or a good cover for the leakers
- monocasa 5y ago
  I've seen the technique reproduced enough that I'm pretty convinced it's not a cover.
- brokenmachine 5y ago
  It's not a cover story in all cases. The best video about it that I've seen is from 33c3 https://youtu.be/lhbSD1Jba0Q https://youtu.be/lhbSD1Jba0Q He bought a carful of cable boxes and glitched them into submission using a NOP slide and custom code to extract the firmware, IIRC over I2C. It was an awesome talk and really explained it well!!
  - nebula8804 5y ago
    That was an amazing talk when it first came out. I didn't fully understand the process but I wish the speaker would do more talks. His clear Canadian accent and method of explanation is wonderful! Has anyone ever hacked DishNetwork/Echostar/Nagravision cards? 10+ years ago I was fascinated to learn about how the new at the time "Nagra3" cards worked so well. I never did find out how those things worked as they seemed impossible to break. I also vaguely remember the story of how Directv owners (owners of FOX networks) secretly commissioned some hackers in Israel to crack their competitors systems while at the same time securing their system further. They eventually got sued but paid a pittance in restitution while their competitors suffered serious financial issues. Really unethical behavior.
    - sgjmdf 5y ago
      > Directv owners (owners of FOX networks) secretly commissioned some hackers It wasn't much of a secret. Newscorp (the FOX assholes) didn't control DTV until 2003. Prior to that, however, DTV utilized the services of NDS for security. NDS was owned by Newscorp, and run by ex-mossad hackers. For some strange reason DTV was constantly owned again and again while NDS was responsible for security at DTV. In 2002, DTV rolled out a new access card without the involvement of NDS, and by golly, it was secure (and remained secure for years). In 2003, Newscorp said fuck that, and bought a controlling interest in DTV.
      - Scoundreller 5y ago
        You might like this read: https://anons.ca/p/i-used-to-operate-a-dss-hacking-network/ https://anons.ca/p/i-used-to-operate-a-dss-hacking-network/
- marcan_42 5y ago
  Leaker conspiracy theories are almost never true in this field. E.g. I happen to know for a fact that the HDCP master key that "leaked" a few years back was computed from a pile of device keys (using an attack that had been known almost since HDCP's inception), not leaked from Intel.

Scoundreller 5y ago

Or a good cover for the leakers

monocasa 5y ago
I've seen the technique reproduced enough that I'm pretty convinced it's not a cover.
brokenmachine 5y ago
It's not a cover story in all cases. The best video about it that I've seen is from 33c3 https://youtu.be/lhbSD1Jba0Q https://youtu.be/lhbSD1Jba0Q He bought a carful of cable boxes and glitched them into submission using a NOP slide and custom code to extract the firmware, IIRC over I2C. It was an awesome talk and really explained it well!!
- nebula8804 5y ago
  That was an amazing talk when it first came out. I didn't fully understand the process but I wish the speaker would do more talks. His clear Canadian accent and method of explanation is wonderful! Has anyone ever hacked DishNetwork/Echostar/Nagravision cards? 10+ years ago I was fascinated to learn about how the new at the time "Nagra3" cards worked so well. I never did find out how those things worked as they seemed impossible to break. I also vaguely remember the story of how Directv owners (owners of FOX networks) secretly commissioned some hackers in Israel to crack their competitors systems while at the same time securing their system further. They eventually got sued but paid a pittance in restitution while their competitors suffered serious financial issues. Really unethical behavior.
  - sgjmdf 5y ago
    > Directv owners (owners of FOX networks) secretly commissioned some hackers It wasn't much of a secret. Newscorp (the FOX assholes) didn't control DTV until 2003. Prior to that, however, DTV utilized the services of NDS for security. NDS was owned by Newscorp, and run by ex-mossad hackers. For some strange reason DTV was constantly owned again and again while NDS was responsible for security at DTV. In 2002, DTV rolled out a new access card without the involvement of NDS, and by golly, it was secure (and remained secure for years). In 2003, Newscorp said fuck that, and bought a controlling interest in DTV.
    - Scoundreller 5y ago
      You might like this read: https://anons.ca/p/i-used-to-operate-a-dss-hacking-network/ https://anons.ca/p/i-used-to-operate-a-dss-hacking-network/
marcan_42 5y ago
Leaker conspiracy theories are almost never true in this field. E.g. I happen to know for a fact that the HDCP master key that "leaked" a few years back was computed from a pile of device keys (using an attack that had been known almost since HDCP's inception), not leaked from Intel.