Microsoft to Boost Media Player Security
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Reports of vulnerabilities found by some peer-to-peer file sharers prompt patch.
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Seven serious security flaws in QuickTime media player software put both Windows PCs and Macs at risk of attack.
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The cat-and-mouse game continues between Microsoft and a group of hackers intent on breaking the copy protection technology on its Windows Media files. This time, an individual has cracked the latest DRM scheme employed by Microsoft.
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Microsoft Corp. is once again on the defensive against hackers after the launch of a new program that gives average PC users tools to unlock copy-protected digital music and movies.
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Security researchers are warning of a serious - and unfixed - security hole with the popular Winamp media player.
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A fresh version of a program designed to circumvent Microsoft's Windows Media DRM was released on Friday, but the company's saying they're not concerned.
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Microsoft Mediaroom will allow users to access a PC hard drive to listen to music or view photos on a TV screen.
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InfoWorld - Microsoft plans to issue two security updates for its Windows operating system products next Tuesday as part of its regular software patch cycle.
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Second security patch in less than a week Apple has plugged two holes in its QuickTime media player that could create serious security problems for people tricked into visiting malicious websites. The release, which is available for both Windows and Mac platforms, is Apple's second security patch in less than a week.â¦
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Trojan horses are piggybacking on an antipiracy feature in Media Player, a security firm claims. But Microsoft denies it's a flaw.
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Papering over the cracks Microsoft is working on closing a loophole that creates a means to strip usage restriction from music files wrapped in its DRM technology. A program called FairUse4WM, recently posted on the internet, allows users to bypass Microsoft's Digital Rights Management (DRM) system.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has won a patent for a digital-watermarking technology that could be used to protect the rights of content owners even when digital music is distributed without DRM protection.  The technology, called "stealthy audio watermarking," inserts and detects watermarks in audio signals that can identify the content producer, "providing a signature that is embedded in the audio signal and cannot be removed," according to a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trade Organization (USPTO). The application for U.S. patent 7,266,697 was filed May 3, 2004, by Darko Kirovski and Henrique Malvar, both of whom work at Microsoft Research. Malvar is a Microsoft distinguished engineer and managing director of Microsoft Research in Redmond, Washington, and Kirovski is a researcher there. Microsoft currently has DRM technology called Windows Media DRM that encrypts audio files and protects them from misuse or unauthorized redistribution. The company has traditionally been an outspoken proponent of using DRM to protect owners of digital content, though it said earlier this year it would consider selling DRM-free songs online after rival Apple struck a deal with EMI Group to do so. Forensic digital watermarking technology like the technology Microsoft has patented doesn't encrypt files the way DRM technology does or prevent people from unauthorized use. However, it can be used to prove who owns the content of the digital file by encoding a file with a unique digital signature. That means illegally traded songs could be tracked back to the original purchaser, allowing authorities to identify illegal sharers and serving as a deterrent. The technology could also be used to track files for royalty distribution. In fact, Apple has been inserting simple watermarks into digital audio files that include personal information about the purchaser on some files sold over iTunes so those files can be traced back to their purchaser in the case of unauthorized distribution. However, Microsoft's watermark is much more intrinsic to the file and cannot be stripped out easily by hackers, like Apple's can, said J. Alex Halderman, a computer science PhD candidate at Princeton University who specializes in DRM technology. "It's much harder for people to remove from the recording," he said. The trick for these watermarks to be effective for digital music files, however, is that they must be inaudible and thus undetectable by those listening to the files, which has been difficult for those who have tried to create this technology in the past, Halderman said. Indeed, in their filing, Kirovski and Malvar acknowledged that to work properly, the watermarks must not only be inaudible, but also "must be scattered throughout the file in such a way that they cannot be identified and manipulated" and "be robust enough so that it can withstand normal changes to the file, such as reductions from ... compression algorithms." Microsoft Tuesday declined to comment on how it plans to use the watermark technology it has patented. However, Microsoft Research already has licensed similar yet non-forensic watermarking technology to a company called Activated Content, which is using the technology to insert and extract non-secure data into audio files.
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(InfoWorld) - Users are being advised to disable a certain type of file in Microsoft's Windows Media Player software following the discovery of a new security hole in the software. The flaw, which affects Windows Media Player versions 9 and 10, could allow a malicious hacker to run unauthorized software on a victim's PC or cause a denial of service attack, according to security company FrSIRT, which rated the problem critical in an advisory Thursday. The flaw is due to a buffer overflow error that can occur when Windows Media Player is used to run ".asx" media files, according to a warning from eEye Digital Security . Such files open automatically in a Web browser, meaning a hacker would need only to post an infected .asx file in a Web page and then try to lure users to visit the page, eEye Digital said. An infected file could also be sent via email, in which case users would need to be persuaded to open it. Microsoft said an initial investigation revealed that the "proof of concept" code could allow an attacker to execute code on a user's machine. It said it was unaware of any attempts to exploit the vulnerability, and it was unclear Friday morning if the proof of concept code it referred to was in the hands of hackers. Users can protect against the vulnerability in Internet Explorer by preventing it from opening .asx files automatically. Turning off Active Scripting would also greatly reduce, but not eliminate, the risk, Microsoft said. FrSIRT also recommended that users upgrade to Windows Media Player 11 , which it said is not affected. Microsoft was still determining Friday whether it needed to issue an "out of cycle" security fix for the problem or patch it with its next monthly software update. The flaw was originally reported on Nov. 22, when it was identified only as a denial-of-service issue. Some discussion boards described the problem as a "zero-day exploit," although it was unclear if that was the case. Zero-day exploits occur when exploit code is released on the same day that a flaw is uncovered, giving users no time to protect themselves. It's been another busy week for Microsoft's security teams. On TuesdayÂ the company warnedÂ of an unpatched vulnerability in Word that had been the subject of what it called "limited attacks." And on Thursday it said it was readying several patches for Visual Studio and Windows that it plans to release next week. The patches currently due for next weekÂ do not address the problemsÂ with Word and Windows Media Player.
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Microsoft on Thursday released a second beta of Windows Media Player 11, providing some performance enhancements, bug fixes and the integration of Windows Media Connect functionality into the player itself.
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Windows Media Player 11 will allow families to move songs or movies from one home device to another.
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Hunt for copy-protection nemesis goes legal Microsoft has launched a lawsuit against the unknown hacker who created a program to strip DRM code from Windows Media Player files.â¦
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Microsoft plas to release Windows Media Player 10 on Thursday alongside the highly anticipated MSN Music Store. WMP10 will be included in Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 which finalized some time after SP2.