Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
Andrew Huang
Computers & Technology
Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
Free
Description
Contents
Reviews

"Hacking the Xbox" is a fascinating book about exactly what it says. If you have no interest in gory details of JTAG probe points, cryptography, so called "trusted computing" and "digital rights management" and the technical issues at stake in trying to implement and/or attack them... then this book will bore you to tears. If you *do* have such interests, then you are in for a treat.

The book opens with 5 chapters of fairly broad physical overview, walking through the hardware systems in Xbox consoles and some (relatively) simple projects to get your hands dirty with a soldering iron. Then on to some meaty chapters introducing you to the security model of the platform, and the attacks that the author and others developed to ultimately succeed at running arbitrary code on these systems. These chapters provide a fascinating blow-by-blow account of the process of developing the attacks. Then, we wrap up with some practical material regarding how to use these attacks to run, for instance, Xbox-Linux on a hacked machine, and some bigger picture information on the legal environment facing US hackers interested in these matters.

Language
English
ISBN
1-59327-029-1
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
PROLOGUE - README.1ST
The Video Game Console Market
About Hackers and Hacking
The Politics of Hacking
The People Behind the Hacks
CHAPTER 1- Voiding the Warranty
Tools of the Trade
Tools to Open Things Up
Tools to Attach and Remove Components
Tools to Test and Diagnose
Tools for Design
Deconstructing the Xbox
Step 1: Safety First
Step 2: Remove Case Screws
Step 3: Remove the Top Cover
Step 4: Move the Disk Drives
Step 5: Remove the Disk Drives (Optional)
Reassembling the Xbox
CHAPTER 2- Thinking Inside the Box
Reading a Circuit Board
Circuit Board Basics
Components
Test Points
Xbox Architecture
High-Level Organization
Functional Details
Pattern Matching
Comparison: Xbox Versus the PC
Contrast: Xbox Versus the Gamecube
CHAPTER 3- Installing a Blue LED
What You’ll Need
Removing the Xbox Front Panel
Removing the Front Panel CircuitBoard
Installing the Blue LED
Reassembling the Front Panel
Debugging
CHAPTER 4- Building a USB Adapter
Starting Materials
Strategy
Implementation
CHAPTER 5- Replacing a Broken Power Supply
Diagnosing a Broken Power Supply
Replacing the Power Supply
Strategy
Procedure
Building the Xbox Power Cable
Installing the Replacement Power Supply
Operating with the Replacement PowerSupply
Debugging Tips
CHAPTER 6- The Best Xbox Game: Security Hacking
First Encounters with a Paranoid Design
To Snarf a ROM
An Encounter with Microsoft
Analyzing the ROM Contents
CHAPTER 7- A Brief Primer on Security
Who Needs Security, Anyways?
A Brief Primer on Cryptography
Classes of Cryptographic Algorithms
The Rest of the Picture
CHAPTER 8- Reverse Engineering Xbox Security
Extracting Secrets from Hardware
Eavesdropping a High Speed Bus
Making Sense of the Captured Data
CHAPTER 9- Sneaking in the Back Door
Back Doors and Security Holes
Visor Jam Table Attacks
MIST Premature Unmap Attack1
Microsoft Retaliates
Reverse Engineering v1.1 Security
The Threat of Back Doors
CHAPTER 10- More Hardware Projects
The LPC Interface
LPC Interface on the Xbox
Using the LPC Interface
The Other 64 MB of SDRAM
Xbox VGA
Mass Storage Replacement
CHAPTER 11- Developing Software for the Xbox
Xbox-Linux
Installing Xbox-Linux
“Project B”
OpenXDK
CHAPTER 12- Caveat Hacker
Caveat Hacker: A Primer on IntellectualProperty, by Lee Tien
Classical Intellectual Property Law:An Overview
The Traditional View of ReverseEngineering
New Challenges for Reverse Engineers
The Responsible Hacker:Ignorance Is No Defense
Reverse Engineering as “The Freedom toTinker” and Other Legal Issues
CHAPTER 13- Onward!
The Hacking Community
Hacking Fora
Making a Contribution
Trusted Computing
Taking a Step Back
Palladium Versus TCPA
Hacking the Trusted PC
Looking Forward
Concluding Thoughts
APPENDIX A- Where to Get Your Hacking Gear
Vendors for Hobbyists
Prepared Equipment Order Forms
APPENDIX B- Soldering Techniques
Introduction to Soldering
Use Flux
Starter Tips
Surface Mount Soldering
Technique for Simple Components
Technique for Complex Components
Technique for Removing Components
APPENDIX C- Getting into PCB Layout
Philosophy and Design Flow
Refining Your Idea
Schematic Capture
Board Layout
General Placement and RoutingGuidelines
CAD Tools
Board Fabrication Companies
Sierra Proto Express
Data Circuit Systems
Advanced Circuits
Alberta Printed Circuits
Starter Projects
APPENDIX D- Getting Started with FPGAs
What Is an FPGA?
Designing for an FPGA
Project Ideas
Where to Buy
APPENDIX E- Debugging: Hints and Tips
Don’t Panic!
Understand the System
Observe Symptoms
Common Bugs
Recovering from a Lifted Trace or Pad
APPENDIX F- Xbox Hardware Reference
Power Supply Pinout
Video Connector Pinout
USB Connector Pinout
Ethernet Connector Pinout
ATA Connector Pinout
DVD-ROM Power Connector
LPC Connector
Fan Connector
Untitled
INDEX
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