The decryption code utilised for high definition movies has been hacked, the licensing authority for copyright-protection technology said.
The crack in the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) has been on the Web for many months, but AACS is dismissing the issue as minor. "This development is limited to the compromise of specific implementations, and does not represent an attack on the AACS system itself, nor is it exclusive to any particular format," it said in a statement.
AACS LA employs both technical and legal measures to deal with attacks such as this one, and AACS LA is using all appropriate remedies at its disposal to address the attack, the organisation said.
Apart from what the organisation says to quell the market. Late last month, a hacker who calls himself Muslix64 had claimed to have cracked the AACS encoding scheme used with next-gen high-def DVDs. This code was designed to protect new discs from piracy. It prevents high-definition discs from illegal copying by restricting which devices can play them, a spokesman said.
The AACS system was developed by companies, including the Walt Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Toshiba and Sony, to protect high-definition formats, including Toshiba's HD-DVD and Sony's Blu-ray.
If the encryption code has been cracked, then any high-definition DVD released up to now can be illegally copied using the Muslix64 'key', according to technology experts.
Jeff Moss, organiser of DefCon, the world's largest hacking convention said, "Everybody is talking like it worked, and apparently it's not that hard". He added, "This will be the first trial run of how this [AACS] is going to work whenever a compromised player comes out."
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, a U.K.-based technology expert and author of Internet blog PC Doctor, said, "What's interesting here is that while this hack might give HD-DVD a temporary advantage amongst enthusiasts who want to backup discs ... in the long run it won't give either format an advantage because both HD-DVD and Blu-ray use the now-cracked AACS".
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