As pretty much expected, Microsoft has decided to file a federal lawsuit against the developer of FairUse4WM claiming that the hacker nicknamed "Viodentia" has managed to steal its copyrighted source code and use it to develop the tool. As Viodentia managed to quickly release an updated version to circumvent Microsoft's DRM patch, Microsoft believes that the only way the hacker could do get around its patch so quickly is if it illegally has access to its source code. At this time, the lawsuit is filed as a "John Doe" lawsuit, much like how the RIAA files its lawsuits, since the developer's true identity is still unknown and is in the process of being traced.
Viodentia denies using any of Microsoft's copyrighted code, claiming that it is his own creation using no more than linking with the static libraries that are included with the compiler he used, along with several Software Development Kit files. While he released yet another version of the FaireUse4WM tool on Wednesday morning, Microsoft claims that its renewable DRM will always keep it ahead of the hackers and is confident that these latest attacks by Viodentia will have little impact on its DRM customers. At the moment, Microsoft is contacting websites hosting FairUse4WM to remove this, as Microsoft believes it contains its copyrighted code.
For Microsoft, this tool comes at a bad time considering that Microsoft is preparing to launch its upcoming Zune player and music download service to rival Apple's iPod and iTunes service. However, Zune does have an advantage in that it uses a completely new DRM system, which is incompatible with the PlaysForSure DRM used with Microsoft's Windows Media partners. On the other hand, despite these recent hacks, analysts say that this does not prove Microsoft's DRM is flawed, but instead clearly shows that DRM (not just Microsoft's version) needs a lot of attention, if not a full time job just to keep it secure. Thanks to our system administrator, Liggy for submitting the following news:
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For more than a month, the Redmond, Wash., company has been combating a program released online called FairUse4WM, which successfully stripped anticopying guards from songs downloaded through subscription media services such as Napster or Yahoo Music. Microsoft has released two successive patches aimed at disabling the tool. The first worked--but the hacker, known only by the pseudonym "Viodentia," quickly found a way around the update, the company alleges. Now the company says this was because the hacker had apparently gained access to copyrighted source code unavailable to previous generations of would-be crackers. "Our own intellectual property was stolen from us and used to create this tool," said Bonnie MacNaughton, a senior attorney in Microsoft's legal and corporate affairs division. "They obviously had a leg up on any of the other hackers that might be creating circumvention tools from scratch.". The full c|net story can be read here. |
When it comes to newly discovered critical security vulnerabilities in its OS or browser, it usually takes Microsoft up to a month to release a patch, however when it comes to discovering a security vulnerability in its DRM, we have seen Microsoft's quickest ever attempt to issue a patch to fix it! It doesn't serve the average consumer any good other than prevent them from attempting to unlock any DRM protected Windows Media content they may have, but in a way, it does show much more Microsoft is determined to keep the entertainment industry happy with its DRM system than it is keeping its regular customers happy that they are safe from malicious attacks.
Interestingly, if Microsoft releases yet another patch to counter the latest version of FairUse4WM by the end of September, it will probably be the first time they patched a given vulnerability three times in a row within the same month!
Source: c|net News - Media 2.0
