Hi All,

I'm looking for an essay on reversing Product Activation. In particular, I'm interested in the "Phone Home" process of Product Activation.

For historical purposes only, when was this first encountered, and when was it first reversed?

Does anyone have any links? I'm still searching, but I was hoping that something jumped out for someone to lead me in the proper direction.

Thanks In Advance,
Jeff
Jeffrey Walton
noloader, gmail account

You may begin by reading the +ORC essays, the very first noticable tutorial of the product activation. You may proceed there onwards. Searching this forum, as well as searching Fravia's old mirror may also help. Nothing works like google though.

Have Phun,

Hi Aimless,


I've seem to have drawn blanks on +ORC's essays using Google. How does one force Google to keep a non-alpha ('+') in the search term?

I also searched the Essays 001 - 100, Essays 101 - 200, Essays 201 - 300, and Essays 301 - 400 located at http://71.6.196.237.

If I recall correctly, I've never seen a current essay written by +OCR in the past (I was active with Fravia, Mammon, and such from the mid 1990s to about 2002). He or she was readily referenced, but I did not see him or her particpate actively in anything.

Do you have any specific links?

Thanks,
Jeff
Jeffrey Walton

I'm not asking for any handouts. Just a link to a paper or essay on Product Activation which employs a Phone Home method via the Internet.

My Reversing Skills have matured, so I don't really consider my self a Newbie... See 'An Analysis of the Windows PE Checksum Algorithm' (http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/PEChecksum.asp).

Dunno which one contains the gold, but the Orc tuts are here:

http://www.woodmann.com/krobar/orcpak.html

EDIT: Aargh, looks like I'll have to fix the linkages again...
If the above link doesn't work then find 'The OrcPaks' from the "Collections" menu in the left hand frame of the main krobar site.

Yo NoLoader:

How about looking for +Orc essays on THIS site. We do have some interesting links at the bottom of the Forums!!

http://71.6.196.237/fravia/orc1.htm



Regards,

Hi All,

Thanks for your help in locating the old articles. I appreciate it.

Jeff

odd how this post appears, shortly after bioshock release heheh
and some activations dont phone home, theres offline activation too...

Hi Kayacker,


Unfortunately, no gold.

So I presume Phone Home Product Activation occured after 1996 (the last +ORC essay). I can also infer it appeard before 2000, when Microsoft used it on Office 2000 for releases in high piracy markets such as China. Adobe introduced the technology circa 2004; AutoDesk in 2005.

But I believe Microsoft is good at using other people's ideas. So I presume someone else implemented it. I just have not found the Company/Program pair.

The odd thing is, I'm researching the history of Protection Schemes. I have no targets in mind - I just want to give credit where credit is due.

From the research side of things, here's what I've found so far. My research is revealing the early _sophisticated_ protection schemes generally came from two sources:

1) high end programs such as P-Cad and AutoCad; and other high
end markets such as animation software - LightWave and Maya.
2) PC game manufacturers

What is frustrating is that I receive no response from companies such as AutoDesk when I ask them about their legacy Protection Schemes. I make it very clear I am not interested in their current scheme.

I've begun asking for EULAs, since there is usually a hint of the scheme in there. But again, no responses.

Jeff
Jeffrey Walton
noloader, gmail account

MS activation is probably of their own design.

Adobe, uses Macrovision's technology.

Autodesk was using a form of "phone home" tracking back about 2000 - sneaky method easily circumvented firewalls - it simply added an E-mail to your Outlook outbox - I found this out purely by watching Outlook's behavior - after running the product - mysteriously when opened Outlook would quickly send mail - no traces left behind - only observable on a really slow machine with antivir that reported outgoing mail.

SiGiNT

Two probable reasons:

They have no reason to take the time to help you.
Whoever worked on the legacy protection schemes no longer works there.

And yes, +ORC is dead. R.I.P.

I believe you are correct...

Do you have any credible sources? Lack of particpation does not equate to not living... Not being argumentitve - I just want to be complete. In 100 years, I would probably say this is a correct statement (and I too will be dead).

Jeff

Howdy,

I was also told he is dead. I have no reason to think otherwise.

Woodmann

[Hi Woodmann,

Taking from ORC's 9.3 essay dated around late 1996 or early 1997:



This would lead me to believe 10 years ago, he had children at home since he stated "my family" rather than "my wife". Assuming his children were average age (?) say 9 or 10 (any age from 1 year to 18 years), that would mean he would be approximately 25 to 35 at the time. I would then presume he was 35 to 45 now.

But that bottle of Vodka may have gotten to him. Perhaps his liver stopped particpating, resulting in a total system shutdown. Perhaps he was in a car accident, or drown. Or maybe he is in jail (who knows what other systems he may have compromised). One can never know for sure.

Jeff

And you forget that in some countries the "kids" stay home longer than they may in other countries. Now, when you "assume" you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me." There are lots of things which can, and do lead to death, premature or otherwise, besides "old age" and/or "liver damage."

Maybe, just maybe, Woodmann and/or disavowed have "reliable infromation" from "people who know people" and/or may "actually know" themselves of the fate of this very interesting, informative, and inspirational fellow.

Regards,

Hi JMI,


I am aware of the fact. I simply could not speak for other countries (I did list my presumptions based on informal US knowledge).


Perhaps... But if asking for a credible source to prove a claim is offending to you, I believe others will be more offending when they don't state it so nicely . I don't believe much of what I hear or see anymore - it is not what I think or believe - it is what I can prove.

Jeff

If you want proof, bone fide proof of +ORC living status, I will need to check a pulse and take some Electroencephalogram readings just to fulfill the legal concept of "alive"

The one source I read, which is public domain (I assume personal communication would be slightly more reliable) was an interview that Fravia gave to the codebreaker's magazine ~2000. he states that +ORC had died in Egypt. I see no reason for Fravia to say something like that if it was not accurate.

And it is equally possible for there to be "pulse" and "EKG" activity, without "any cognative function," which generally would indicate someone is "alive," as opposed to simply "breathing in and out."

Regards,

I really do not think he died, as in "expired" (I used to, after reading Fravia's interviews, but not any longer - I think he may be using his effective smoke screens...). But I believe he may simply have consciously "faded away", considering most people think it would be a gold mine to "contact" him (thought I can't imagine CIA pulling out his fingernails - "Talk, how did you break that 2048 bit encryption, talk!"

Maybe, just maybe, he's gone back to helping the govt of third world countries, as he was so fond of pointing out.

And maybe, just maybe, he's here among us. lurking, seeing, coming in with a different nick... who knows?

Have Phun,

Hi All,

I found it in amoung the volumes of printed material at the house... I had the forsight to print everything I could on RE back then (circa 1995 - 2000) assuming it would be torn down due to gestapko legislation of the US (and later we got DCMA).

And Microsoft was not the first... Go figure.

Jeff

Regarding +ORC being dead, +fravia told me in person a few years ago, along with the details of how he learned of +ORC's death. And he didn't mean metaphorically dead, he meant dead dead

Doubtful, given F+'s "behavioral changes" he has been displaying since the closure of his cracking business...

Just for "historical accucracy" it is +F, rather than F+. But we weren't confused about who you mean.

Regards