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Originally Posted by Str0b0
Even if it was implemented in that way all it would take is a PC without the hardware and a PC with the hardware and a packet analyzer.
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Very easy: the chain of trust starts at the TPM (which stores securely the hash values of SW started up to the game, I forgot to tell you that!). If there's no TPM, the game does not start, because the OS does not start, because the OS loader does not start, because the boot loader does not start, because it does not get the TPM signals (faking this signal on the LPC bus would require a valid endorsment key, knowledge of the LPC bus and hardware to fake this complex, though slow, signal ... this would cost a lot of money only to run a game!).
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Presumably the anti cheat must report server side in order to be effective. So a packet analyzer would let you see the the information being sent server side by the anti cheat by means of a simple comparison.
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Nope, it does not need to contact the server if it's programmed smartly. The only communication with server would be firmware update, which can't be broken due to the crypto behind it (and by that I mean breaking RSA for 2048-bits keys ... which would earn you huge amount of money, see
http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2216 for more info). Bear in mind, most stuff that get out of the TPM is useless, unless you know the keys inside the TPM (which would require huge resources to break, and even then it only gives you keys for this particular platform, each TPM has a different endorsment key).
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Once you have figured out the info that the server is receiving you could alter the packets sent to the server to basically tell it that everything is OK and that any odd input is the result of the player as opposed to a cheat program.
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Just a quick note: this is what the GWLP project did (and the "hacker" did an excellent job btw) but it does not apply here, since you would be (this is purely hypothetical, as I said before they will probably not implement it this way) on an OS stripped of all its decompilation features.
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Granted this would likely cause increased lag times which may give away a cheat program but it would be difficult to prove that it wasn't just a latency issue in the first place.
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Good point, timing will be an issue. I suspect they will actually build it into the client (once more, when a VMM runs the particular OS that the game is expecting, you can't fake on the SW side, you have to hack the hardware, which is much more expensive and difficult and so in the cost-benefit analysis, this could deter hackers).
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The only real recourse they would have is to make the chip so that it shuts down the game itself or the entire OS if a cheat is detected and I doubt that any computer manufacturer is willing to go that far. I know I for one wouldn't buy a computer if it had a chip that could possibly freak out if I decided to say, run video capture program with a game, and then shut down my computer.
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The plan, as far as I know, wouldn't be to shut it down at all, you either are able to start the virtual machine (VM) with the game inside (thus it's virtually not modifiable), or you're not (but you're able to start other VMs to do anything else, but play the game).
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Really though as someone who appears to have more than a little knowledge about computers and software you have to admit that hackers are resourceful.
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You're absolutely right. And when SW attacks, they look at HW, and if not (as rightfully indicated in a previous messge) they attack the human (meaning social engineering, not mugging!). As I said at the very beginning, it's an arm's race. But hackers will face a huge wall with these technologies, which require physical presence in front of the computer to be broken!
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Cheaters will cheat and they will pay money to people who promise them the ability to cheat without consequences. As long as that money is there hackers will continue to provide programs and continue to find exploits regardless of protections put in place.
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In my opinion, the next big wave of attacks are automated social engineering, which will take the information from you by using knowledge of your behavior, surroundings, etc. (such as reading my message on this forum, and possibly others, and then exploiting this in-game). And I think that at one point, there is the possibility that the world will split into different "stratas", almost as in the "have" and "have nots", the former being able to play and do certain things, while the latter will not. I'm waiting to see what lawyers will do, since they are already moving on DRM (and I do think it's not right btw).
Aside note: on the topic of DRM, actually this is theoretically a desirable property that is called "integrity". And funnily, people perfectly accept it on mobile phones (technically, the SIM belongs to you, but not the phone, whose SW is totally under the mobile operator's control), but they don't accept it on their PC. I believe that now that people discovered the "free world" (Linux, which is totally legitimate btw, then lead, in a complicated manner, peer-to-peer content to fight the abusive prices set by major companies, but even when price go down people still download content), they do not want to go back, even if it is for their security. I also believe that ultimately the problem is not HW or SW, it's human: politics, law, fair economic models.
