Topic: Pirates release fully cracked Vista install

[Amker]

DISCUSSING PIRATED software is still fairly taboo within the press, but sometimes a scene release is worthy of note, despite the influx of staunch anti-piracy e-mails that will flood our in-box. Don't forget, we don't support piracy, we're only reporting the news.

A widely available release, located at the usual pirate havens, from a scene group entitled 'NoPE' (which doesn't appear to have released much else) has quickly become the most highly sought-after asset of eye-patched, peg-legged, shoulder-mounted-parrot pirate types.

Vista has been leaked in every conceivable form and in all its various releases and flavours, but has still remained difficult to crack for the average swashbuckling black-beard.

Various timer programs forcing the activation to hold off indefinitely and other cracks haven't come close to the efficiency of the recent OEM BIOS emulation tool-kit that has floated about - but which is significantly more difficult to use that a 'normal' crack or serial.

The NoPE release has a major key difference to other previous pirated copies of Vista - it is completely cracked, the product appears activated, updates work, and no key needs to be entered, straight from the installation media without any effort on the part of the pirate.

We presume that the hackers have managed to replace the Vista image on the DVD, with the pre-cracked version. Microsoft moved to an image-based install with Microsoft Vista, as opposed to the usual convoluted set up process.

Several readers have reported it working perfectly.

It's taken a few months since the launch of Windows Vista, but the product now seems to be successfully cracked, and even simpler to install than previous leaked copies of WindowsXP - which always required a serial.

It remains to be seen if Microsoft's new anti-piracy measures, coupled with Windows Update, will be able to counter-measure this new release, even so, now the pirates have found a method to install pre-cracked versions on the installation media, Microsoft will have a significant fight on its hands to keep Vista piracy-free.

[Dave]

What a story ! Do you heard about this earlier ?

I think to this will cause a loosing a loot of money to Bill & Microsoft !? 

[Samker]

In response to widespread chatter on blogs and forums, Microsoft has acknowledged the presence of hacks that may allow pirates to bypass the product activation security feature in its Windows Vista operating system.

According to a post by Microsoft senior product manager Alex Kochis on the Windows Genuine Advantage developers' blog, Microsoft has identified two ways in which hackers have broken the product activation security feature on original equipment manufacturer PCs that come bundled with Vista. But the tech giant does not yet have plans to snuff out this threat.

"We focus on hacks that pose threats to our customers, partners and products," Kochis wrote. "Our goal isn't to stop every 'mad scientist' that's on a mission to hack Windows. Our first goal is to disrupt the business model of organised counterfeiters and protect users from becoming unknown victims."

Microsoft first introduced product activation as a security feature with its Windows XP operating system, which launched in 2001.

Reports of a vulnerability in Vista's product activation began to surface last month with word of a crack called 'Vista Loader 2.0', an enhanced version of the 'Vista Loader 1.0' that was devised by Chinese hackers, according to a 10 March post on the My Digital Life blog. Vista Loader, the post explained, simulates an OEM motherboard's basic input-output system, software that is responsible for communication between the machine's hardware and the operating system. Consequently, with a BIOS simulator, the registration process that would normally lock out an unauthorised copy of Windows Vista could be bypassed.

While Microsoft is not immediately taking action, Kochis did acknowledge on the Windows Genuine Advantage blog that this could be a problem. "Because Windows Vista can't be pirated as easily as Windows XP, it's possible that the increased pressure will result in more interest in efforts to attack the OEM Activation 2.0 implementation," Kochis wrote.

Last month, it was believed that hackers had found a loophole in Vista's product registration, but Microsoft refuted the claim shortly afterwards. Another alleged hack, this one involving a random product key generator, was also debunked in March.

CNET