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A user can apparently crack Windows Vista's activation process by applying brute force to come up with valid product keys.
A Web site posted a tool Thursday that can apparently crack Windows Vista's activation process by applying brute force -- and lots of time -- to come up with valid product keys, circumventing one of Microsoft's most important antipiracy methods.
KezNews.com posted information about, and a tool for, cranking out legitimate Windows Vista activation keys. But even though the tool churns through 20,000 keys an hour, it could take billions -- maybe trillions -- of years to work through all the possible combinations.
Microsoft said it is investigating the attack. "We're looking into this issue now," said Alex Kochis, senior product manager of WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) , on the group's blog.
According to the KezNews.com write-up by someone identified as Computer User, who created the "KeyGen" tool, the process uses a modified version of the software license manager script file to search for valid keys. Crackers, however, must periodically check to see if the key they entered earlier has changed, then attempt to activate using the changed key. Those parts of the procedure can only be done manually.
Vista's activation, which is part of the company's overall anti-counterfeit program, validates the license's product key -- in Vista's case, that's a 25-character alphanumeric string -- to make sure that the key isn't used multiple times by pirates. If Vista is not activated within 30 days of its first-time use, it drops into a crippled state in which only the browser works, and then only for an hour at a time.
A user can apparently crack Windows Vista's activation process by applying brute force to come up with valid product keys.
A Web site posted a tool Thursday that can apparently crack Windows Vista's activation process by applying brute force -- and lots of time -- to come up with valid product keys, circumventing one of Microsoft's most important antipiracy methods.
KezNews.com posted information about, and a tool for, cranking out legitimate Windows Vista activation keys. But even though the tool churns through 20,000 keys an hour, it could take billions -- maybe trillions -- of years to work through all the possible combinations.
Microsoft said it is investigating the attack. "We're looking into this issue now," said Alex Kochis, senior product manager of WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage) , on the group's blog.
According to the KezNews.com write-up by someone identified as Computer User, who created the "KeyGen" tool, the process uses a modified version of the software license manager script file to search for valid keys. Crackers, however, must periodically check to see if the key they entered earlier has changed, then attempt to activate using the changed key. Those parts of the procedure can only be done manually.
Vista's activation, which is part of the company's overall anti-counterfeit program, validates the license's product key -- in Vista's case, that's a 25-character alphanumeric string -- to make sure that the key isn't used multiple times by pirates. If Vista is not activated within 30 days of its first-time use, it drops into a crippled state in which only the browser works, and then only for an hour at a time.
