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Second Opinion: DVR Video over FireWire

The Maximum PC Staff — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:00:00 -0500

Second Opinion is where readers respond to the Doctor, share their wisdom, correct him if he's wrong, and generally show the world what smart, beautiful people you are.

I can’t agree more with the Doctor regarding his advice to Michael Collins (June 2008) on a TiVo as the best option to extend your DVRing capabilities, especially for transferring recorded programs to a computer. The TiVoToGo feature is great. However, the Doctor’s advice regarding the FireWire ports of most cable DVRs is, as Dwight Schrute would say, “False!”

As to Michael’s question regarding legal issues, there are no implications. Just as the DVI and HDMI ports are protected with HDCP, the FireWire ports are protected with 5C DTCP encryption. Programs that are supposed to be copy protected are encrypted and cannot be captured with a computer, though the copy-protected content varies by market. One needs a D-VHS deck for authorized copying of such programs.

The FCC has mandated that cable DVRs must have the FireWire ports enabled. While many channels are encrypted, basic cable channels are not to be encrypted. If you find you can’t capture a basic-tier channel (including local HDTV channels), call your cable company to complain; then lodge a complaint with your local cable franchise authority (usually listed on your monthly bill).

–Kevin Onken

SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes.

Firewire to Get Speed Boost to Overtake USB in Serial Bus Battle

Paul Lilly — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:47:09 -0500

Forget about sliced bread; USB might be the single greatest invention ever. Just don't tell the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (now just called IEEE), who recently approved a new 1394-2008 specification that supports bumping the bandwidth up to 3.2 Gb/s.

"The new standard includes all of the amendments, enhancements, and more than 100 errata which have been added to the base standard over the last 12 years," said Les Baxter, chair of the working group which developed the standard. "This update provides developers with a single document they can rely upon for al of their application needs."

Firewire has fallen in recent years from the high speed interface of choice, particularly for DV transfers, to one that is now used mainly in professional environments. But that could change with the new spec, which introduces support for S1600 (1.6 Gb/s) and S3200 (3.2 Gb/s) while also being backwards compatible with current S400 and S800 ports. And the IEEE isn't finished, as looking ahead it's expected that Firewire will scale to 6.4 Gb/s.

For its part, USB isn't remaining idle and will receive an upgrade to 4.8 Gb/s in version 3.0, though exactly when still remains unknown.

Image Credit: Flickr tony.targonskj

Who's Afraid of the FireWire Port? Maybe - You!

Mark Soper — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:16:49 -0500

Not a Good Season for PC Security

One of these days, the folks who write dictionaries are going to list "secure" as an antonym for "personal computer." After all, we recently learned that a can of compressed air can be used to break full-disk encryption like Windows Vista's BitLocker and MacOS's FileValut. And now, thanks to a security researcher from New Zealand, we're learning that FireWire ports also offer an attack vector. Ouch!

Meet 'Metlstorm' and His Attack Program, winlockpwn

Adam 'Metlstorm' Boileau is the creator of winlockpwn, which enables a Linux-based computer to disguise itself as an iPod, connect to a Windows-based PC's FireWire port and take it over, regardless of whether it's password protected. Boileau, despite his hackerish nickname, is actually a well-known security consultant.

After demonstrating winlockpwn at a security conference back in 2006, Boileau waited 18 months to see if anyone would address the vulnerability his utility exposed. Nobody did, and with the recent coverage of the physical attack on full-disk encryption, he decided it was time to go public in a March 4 interview on the Australian-based Risky Business security podcast (it starts at 12:36 into the podcast). If you're not a big podcast fan, read about it here.

How winlockpwn Works

Simply put, winlockpwn works by exploiting a well-known feature (not a bug, thank you very much!) of the FireWire (aka IEEE-1394 or i.Link) interface: because FireWire is an expansion bus (not a peripheral bus like USB), it's designed to communicate directly with memory.

Boileau's program uses some "secret sauce" to make a Linux-based PC look like a harmless iPod (enabling it to bypass access control programs that block certain types of devices from connecting to a PC) but after the PC recognizes the fake "iPod," winlockpwn can launch software to bypass passwords and create other types of havoc.

Other operating systems, including Linux and MacOS, have long been known to be vulnerable to similar hacks, but winlockpwn is the first FireWire-based attack aimed at Windows PCs. Windows XP is the primary target, but Information Week reports that an Austrian-based security company has created a similar attack method targeting Vista.

Script Kiddies Need Not Apply

Thankfully, winlockpwn isn't available as a preconfigured .exe file - Boileau has published it as a research tool for serious security researchers (but, let's face it, serious hackers will also "benefit" from it too). It requires a Linux-based PC with a FireWire port, the Python programming language, and some programming libraries. A complete list of requirements is found in Boileau's original 2006 presentation "Hit by a Bus: Physical Access Attacks in Firewire" available in PDF form on his website.

Stopping winlockpwn

Winlockpwn's ability to attack a Windows-based PC via the FireWire port is based on the FireWire port's being active. So, the easiest way to stop winlockpwn is to disable your FireWire ports when they're not in use! Use BIOS routines to disable onboard FireWire ports, and the Windows Device Manager to disable card-based ports. Because winlockpwn can also be launched after plugging in a CardBus (32-bit PC Card) FireWire card into a "locked" PC, use Device Manager to disable the CardBus slots when they're not in use. If you'd rather use access control software to secure your PC, keep in mind that winlockpwn imitates 'harmless' devices, so you'd better configure the software to permit no access by any type of FireWire device (until it's time to plug in your DV camcorder or FireWire drive or scanner, that is).

Panic? No! Reasonable Caution? Yes!

So, how should you react to the news that winlockpwn is stalking the Windows PC world? It isn't necessary to sleep with your laptop under your pillow, but you should secure it when you're not using it. Keep your office door locked when you're on break or at lunch, and put those FireWire ports to sleep when you don't need them for video capture or editing jobs.

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