More Xbox 360 Security Details Emerge

27 Oct, 2005 at 1:39pm ET Article published in Tech

Xbox-scene has some new details on the security measures that will be implemented in the upcoming Xbox 360 video game console.

View: Xbox 360 Security Info @ Xbox-Scene

* Yes, MUs [Memory Units] have security. Secure hashing is done automatically on any region mounted with XContentCreate, including memory units.

* Yes, there are additional safeguards in place that will help prevent Xbox 360 from being modified. Stack memory, for instance, is non-executable, which makes buffer overrun issues more difficult to exploit.

* Much effort has gone into Xbox 360 security. However, there is no such thing as a perfectly secure game console, and you should continue to employ secure coding techniques. Don’t assume that data coming from the network, from the hard drive or from the MU is safe. It’s not. Use the new safe CRT functions (e.g. strcpy_s). Use the /GS compiler flag. Use _SECURE_SCL. The only time you should avoid these types of security features is in the rare inner-loops where the performance impact outweighs the security benefit.
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Source: Xbox-Scene

Comments

27 Oct 2005 ~ 7:06pm FormFactor Umm, is it just me or is there a huge empty space above this story?
27 Oct 2005 ~ 11:09pm Jengo i think its just you
27 Oct 2005 ~ 11:37pm Spinner ...or him.
28 Oct 2005 ~ 7:32am drasnor I love Microsoft's new theme in Paladium and now the Xbox360 of "securing our product against the end user" who "bought the damn thing" and "might want to run programs of his choice".

-drasnor
29 Oct 2005 ~ 12:52pm TheSmJ

drasnor wrote:

I love Microsoft's new theme in Paladium and now the Xbox360 of "securing our product against the end user" who "bought the damn thing" and "might want to run programs of his choice".

-drasnor

It's about people running stolen software on their consoles, not running homebrew games. IMO what MS is trying to prevent is entirely fair.