Gaming in the Glass Safe - Games DRM & Privacy

Architecture and Background

Ferdinand Schober - Gaming in the Glass Safe - Games DRM & Privacy "DRM is the new form of slavery - but it also spies on you." - conversation with a gamer After years of perceived-rampant piracy on the PC, game publishers are beginning to shackle gamers with increasingly intrusive DRM systems. However, recent game news headlines are brimming with failures of these measures.

Vulnerability Analysis

Cracks either get released weeks prior to street dates, or systems fail and prohibit legitimate buyers from running their games. Even worse, these systems can easily be used to siphon the personal information of gamers and potentially cause them major pain.

Exploitation and Demonstrations

This presentation will show an overview of what is out there in the game DRM space and dive into specific issues. These issues detail how game platforms and their DRM systems create a goldmine of personal data and can be easily used to mess with legitimate gamers.

Remediation and Defensive Strategies

Ferdinand Schober has been ranting about games for several years, and has been playing them in lieu of sleep since grade school. He worked in a security testing position on AAA titles with the highest ranked game publisher, followed by an excursion into web-based and casual game development for a major online game portal. He recently joined the Georgia Institute of Technology as a PhD student and security researcher, focusing on entertainment security. For copies of the slides and additional materials please see the DEF CON 18 Archive here: