PWL Seattle: Keeping Secrets in Hardware: The Microsoft Xbox Case Study

Details

• What we'll do: Nathan will be presenting on Keeping Secrets in Hardware: The Microsoft Xbox Case Study

Abstract:
This paper discusses the hardware foundations of the cryptosystem employed by the XboxTM video game console from Microsoft. A secret boot block overlay is buried within a system ASIC. This secret boot block decrypts and verifies portions of an external FLASH-type ROM. The presence of the secret boot block is camouflaged by a decoy boot block in the external ROM. The code contained within the secret boot block is transferred to the CPU in the clear over a set of high-speed busses where it can be extracted using simple custom hardware. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the Xbox security system. One lesson of this study is that the use of a high-performance bus alone is not a sufficient security measure, given the advent of inexpensive rapid prototyping services and affordable high-performance FPGAs.

Will be both online and in person, address below, but if you want to join virtually, our usual link at https://meet.jit.si/paperswelove

In Person we're meeting at Capitol Hill Library Meeting Room

• Important to know

As a chapter of Papers We Love we abide by and enforce the PWL Code of Conduct (https://github.com/papers-we-love/seattle/blob/master/code-of-conduct.md) at our events. Please give it a read, plan on acting like an adult, and involve one of the organizers if you need help.

Now talking on Discord in the #seattle channel
https://discord.gg/MP4VB8BGcE

If you have a paper you'd like to present, or even just a mini, please hit up one of the organizers :) We're always looking for more presenters.