David Stonehouse Technology

Cracking the Xbox

The Xbox is the king of the hill right now when it comes to security, says Mike Curry, a 29-year-old Canadian programmer determined to break it.

"The Xbox has more security than a bank machine," he says.

More security than a bank machine is something of an understatement. Microsoft's game console is fitted with encryption so strong that it equals the sophistication of the codes thought to be protecting United States military communications. All that so the only games that can be run on the Xbox are genuine Microsoft ones; nothing pirated, nothing put out by a competitor.

Clearly this rankles. Some 35,000 people have eagerly signed up to help Curry and the other boys of Operation Project X crack what experts have declared uncrackable. "We're kind of attacking Microsoft," Curry says from his home near Toronto. "And I think people enjoy that for some reason." None relishes the challenge more than the Mac fanatics in the gang. "Those guys," he says, "hate Microsoft."

Clearly all have their work cut out for them: The key to unlock it is 617 digits long. Yup, you read it right: a string of 617 numbers.

To find it, they have borrowed a trick from the folks who spend their days hunting for aliens in outer space. For several years now, SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, has convinced legions of computer users to download a program that puts individual PCs to work sifting through the mountains of audio recordings of the galaxy. The SETI "screensaver" kicks in when a computer is sitting idle and combs the data looking for signs of alien life; the idea is that many computers are much more likely to succeed where one alone would fail.

The project is something that resonates with people since about 4.5 million machines devote their off time to help SETI, earning it a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

Justin Martin, a friend and colleague of Curry's, used to be one of those souls. He lent computer power to SETI for years but then he began to wonder if he couldn't do something more, well, productive with it.

Like hacking the Xbox.

Martin had heard that Michael Robertson, the founder of MP3.com, was offering $153,000 to whomever could pull it off. As the CEO of Lindows.com (which produces LindowsOS, a Linux-based operating system that supports some Windows file types and runs certain Windows compatible programs), Robertson is itching for someone to crack the code so Linux can be run on the game console.

While it is already possible to buy a "mod chip" over the internet that will bypass the code on the Xbox and allow Linux to run on the machine, Robertson is keen for a software solution so users can convert their boxes without physically opening them.

If it all seems like a little too much fuss over a video-games machine, consider this: inside the Xbox is a chip more powerful than that in some PCs - a 733MHz Celeron. The inexpensive game console is really a computer in disguise and running Linux on it means being able to use it for more than games. Attach a keyboard and mouse and the Xbox can do just about anything a PC can do.

Curry, who runs a distributed computing website called the Neo Project, is astounded at how many people have joined in the Xbox effort. It really isn't all about the money - he's already pledged 80 per cent of the reward to charity should they win. That leaves 10 per cent for him and his buddies to help pay the costs of running the project and 10 per cent for the person whose computer finds the magic number.

(Also in The Age, Melbourne)