glynn clements glynnclementsvirginnet yannick gingras wrote wondering techniques make cdkey like unbreakable either giving cancelation date periodic renewal server using self md5 signature resulting executable know must easy whole software piracy problem would resolved must way make really hard break anyone hints issue mean cdkey like presume typo mean unbreakable need far explicit problem wish solve constraints involved general points 1 conventional cd key system actual cds massproduced many identical cds entire system work offline solve problem valid keys traded eg included along bootleg copies product theres online element involved tie keys specific hardware configuration done afaik windows xps product activation 2 anything uses symmetric cipher hash bound vulnerable reverse engineering validation routines within executable 3 ultimately software mechanism vulnerable cracking ie modifying software disable circumvent validation checks prevented use trusted hardware eg palladiumstyle system significantly data must supplied form accessible hardware anyone get data meaningful ie unencrypted form extract useful parts discard rest ie associated protection mechanisms iow keep genie bottle times data got even requires use dedicated hardware bus analyser duplicated distributed without limit glynn clements tue 3 sep 2002 202806 0100 secure sofware key