XP pirated, says security boss
- Added:
- Oct 31, 2001
According to Nottingham-based security company Bit-Arts, the anti-theft features incorporated into Windows XP were broken within hours of being launched last week, with hackers developing illegal installation files that bypass the system's licence activation process.
Bit-Arts CTO John Safa claimed that versions of XP burned onto CD “are going round for 5 a copy” and are widely available on websites in the Far East, as well file sharing sites such as musiccity.com.
The suggestion is that the “corporate key” deliberately integrated into the system by Microsoft to make enterprise-wide installation and registration by large companies less time-consuming has made XP more vulnerable.
According to Safa, hackers have been able to crack the corporate version, run a byte-by-byte comparison with its protected, retail counterpart and take the protection code out of the software.
He believes that “licence-activation is the right way to go”, but thinks that Microsoft should have distributed XP to large companies in a version bound into the corporate network, thus protecting it from attack.
However, a flustered Microsoft spokesperson expressed doubts about the claims before demanding Bit-Arts' URL. “This is not a crack,” he insisted.
The global, 173m Windows XP marketing campaign began last week with launch parties at the Royal Festival Hall in London and a concert in New York by Sting, with the company citing many new security features that will allegedly make your desktop a safer place to work.
Meanwhile, new research from employee internet management company Websense has revealed that the number of pirated software and hacking web sites has risen by 240% in the last year to 5,400.
The Business Software Alliance (BSA), which includes Microsoft and protects the interests of software developers against piracy, has also recently claimed to have shut down a piracy network spanning the UK and eight other countries. Several UK companies, including ISP ClaraNet, are also under BSA investigation for alleged use of unlicensed software.