Hacking the Xbox

An Introduction to Reverse Engineering

By: A. Huang

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Paperback | 1 July 2003

At a Glance

Paperback
288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.23 x 15.24 x 1.91

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This hands-on guide to hacking begins with step-by-step tutorials on hardware modifications that teach basic hacking techniques as well as essential reverse engineering skills. The book progresses into a discussion of the Xbox security mechanisms and other advanced hacking topics, with an emphasis on educating the readers on the important subjects of computer security and reverse engineering. Hacking the Xbox includes numerous practical guides, such as where to get hacking gear, soldering techniques, debugging tips and an Xbox hardware reference guide.

Hacking the Xbox also confronts the social and political issues facing today's hacker by looking forward and discussing the impact of today's legal challenges on legitimate reverse engineering activities. The book includes a chapter written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) about the rights and responsibilities of hackers, and concludes by discussing the latest trends and vulnerabilities in secure PC platforms.

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Computing & I.T.Digital Lifestyle & Online World: Consumer & User Guides Computer Games & Online Games Strategy Guides Computer Security Data Encryption Computer Programming & Software Development Software Engineering Booktopia Publisher Services John Wiley & Sons Publishers UK Computer Science Systems Analysis & Design

Databases Computer Hardware Storage Media & Peripherals Operating Systems

Prologue-README.1ST	p. 1
The Video Game Console Market	p. 2
About Hackers and Hacking	p. 4
The Politics of Hacking	p. 7
The People Behind the Hacks	p. 11
Voiding the Warranty	p. 15
Tools of the Trade	p. 15
Tools to Open Things Up	p. 15
Tools to Attach and Remove Components	p. 17
Tools to Test and Diagnose	p. 18
Tools for Design	p. 20
Deconstructing the Xbox	p. 22
Safety First	p. 22
Remove Case Screws	p. 22
Remove the Top Cover	p. 24
Move the Disk Drives	p. 25
Remove the Disk Drives (Optional)	p. 28
Reassembling the Xbox	p. 28
Thinking Inside the Box	p. 31
Reading a Circuit Board	p. 32
Circuit Board Basics	p. 32
Components	p. 34
Test Points	p. 39
Xbox Architecture	p. 40
High-Level Organization	p. 40
Functional Details	p. 42
CPU	p. 42
Northbridges and Southbridges	p. 45
RAM	p. 46
ROM	p. 47
Odds and Ends	p. 48
Pattern Matching	p. 48
Comparison: Xbox Versus the PC	p. 49
Contrast: Xbox Versus the Gamecube	p. 50
Installing a Blue LED	p. 53
What You'll Need	p. 54
Removing the Xbox Front Panel	p. 54
Removing the Front Panel Circuit Board	p. 58
Installing the Blue LED	p. 59
Reassembling the Front Panel	p. 63
Debugging	p. 65
Building a USB Adapter	p. 67
Starting Materials	p. 67
Strategy	p. 69
Implementation	p. 69
Replacing a Broken Power Supply	p. 73
Diagnosing a Broken Power Supply	p. 74
Replacing the Power Supply	p. 76
Strategy	p. 77
Procedure	p. 78
Building the Xbox Power Cable	p. 78
Installing the Replacement Power Supply	p. 84
Operating with the Replacement Power Supply	p. 85
Debugging Tips	p. 86
The Best Xbox Game: Security Hacking	p. 89
First Encounters with a Paranoid Design	p. 90
To Snarf a ROM	p. 90
An Encounter with Microsoft	p. 92
Analyzing the ROM Contents	p. 93
A Brief Primer on Security	p. 101
Who Needs Security, Anyways?	p. 101
A Brief Primer on Cryptography	p. 104
Classes of Cryptographic Algorithms	p. 105
SHA-1 Hash	p. 109
TEA	p. 111
RC-4	p. 113
RSA	p. 114
The Rest of the Picture	p. 116
Reverse Engineering Xbox Security	p. 119
Extracting Secrets from Hardware	p. 119
Eavesdropping a High Speed Bus	p. 122
Tapping the Bus on a Budget	p. 122
Building the Data Logger	p. 129
Determining the Bus Order and Polarity	p. 131
Making Sense of the Captured Data	p. 131
Sneaking in the Back Door	p. 137
Back Doors and Security Holes	p. 138
Visor Jam Table Attacks	p. 139
MIST Premature Unmap Attack	p. 140
Microsoft Retaliates	p. 141
Reverse Engineering v1.1 Security	p. 142
The Threat of Back Doors	p. 147
More Hardware Projects	p. 151
The LPC Interface	p. 151
LPC Interface on the Xbox	p. 152
Using the LPC Interface	p. 153
The Other 64 MB of SDRAM	p. 155
Xbox VGA	p. 157
Mass Storage Replacement	p. 158
Developing Software for the Xbox	p. 161
Xbox-Linux	p. 161
Installing Xbox-Linux	p. 162
"Project B"	p. 166
OpenXDK	p. 171
Caveat Hacker	p. 173
Caveat Hacker: A Primer on Intellectual Property	p. 175
Classical Intellectual Property Law: An Overview	p. 175
Copyright	p. 176
Patent	p. 178
Trade Secrets	p. 179
The Constitutional Copyright Bargain	p. 179
The Traditional View of Reverse Engineering	p. 180
Trade Secrecy and "Improper Means"	p. 180
Copyright Law and the Problem of Intermediate Copying	p. 181
Patent Law	p. 182
New Challenges for Reverse Engineers	p. 183
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Problem of Unauthorized Access	p. 184
Unauthorized Access	p. 184
Circumvention Technologies	p. 185
Navigating the DMCA's Exemptions	p. 185
1201(f): reverse-engineering for interoperability	p. 186
1201(g): encryption research	p. 187
1201(j): security research	p. 187
End-User License Agreements and Contractual Prohibitions on Reverse-Engineering	p. 187
Trade Secrets and the Economic Espionage Act	p. 189
The Responsible Hacker: Ignorance Is No Defense	p. 189
Civil and Criminal Offenses and Penalties	p. 190
Reverse Engineering as "The Freedom to Tinker" and Other Legal Issues	p. 191
Onward!	p. 193
The Hacking Community	p. 193
Hacking Fora	p. 194
Making a Contribution	p. 195
Trusted Computing	p. 197
Taking a Step Back	p. 199
Palladium Versus TCPA	p. 202
Hacking the Trusted PC	p. 204
Looking Forward	p. 205
Concluding Thoughts	p. 206
Where to Get Your Hacking Gear	p. 207
Vendors for Hobbyists	p. 207
Prepared Equipment Order Forms	p. 209
Soldering Techniques	p. 211
Introduction to Soldering	p. 211
Use Flux	p. 212
Starter Tips	p. 213
Surface Mount Soldering	p. 214
Technique for Simple Components	p. 215
Technique for Complex Components	p. 216
Technique for Removing Components	p. 219
Getting into PCB Layout	p. 223
Philosophy and Design Flow	p. 223
Refining Your Idea	p. 223
Schematic Capture	p. 224
Board Layout	p. 226
General Placement and Routing Guidelines	p. 227
Leave Space for Via Fanouts on Surface Mount Devices	p. 228
Decoupling Capacitors Fit Nicely Under SMD Pads	p. 228
Know Your Special Traces	p. 229
Circuit Boards Make Fine Heatsinks	p. 231
Establish Preferred Routing Directions for Each Layer	p. 231
Stack a Board with Orthogonal Layers	p. 231
On Two-Layer Boards, Use Fingers to Bus Power	p. 232
Hints on Using an Auto-Router	p. 232
CAD Tools	p. 232
Board Fabrication Companies	p. 233
Sierra Proto Express	p. 233
Data Circuit Systems	p. 234
Advanced Circuits	p. 234
Alberta Printed Circuits	p. 234
Starter Projects	p. 235
Getting Started with FPGAs	p. 237
What Is an FPGA?	p. 237
Designing for an FPGA	p. 239
Project Ideas	p. 243
Where to Buy	p. 244
Debugging: Hints and Tips	p. 247
Don't Panic!	p. 247
Understand the System	p. 247
Observe Symptoms	p. 248
Common Bugs	p. 249
Recovering from a Lifted Trace or Pad	p. 252
Xbox Hardware Reference	p. 257
Power Supply Pinout	p. 257
Video Connector Pinout	p. 258
USB Connector Pinout	p. 260
Ethernet Connector Pinout	p. 261
ATA Connector Pinout	p. 262
DVD-ROM Power Connector	p. 263
LPC Connector	p. 264
Fan Connector	p. 265
Front Panel Connector	p. 265
Index	p. 267
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Hacking the Xbox

An Introduction to Reverse Engineering

At a Glance

Paperback

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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