StarForce is a software copy prevention mechanism developed by Protection Technology. Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention, or copy restriction, is a technology for preventing the unauthorised reproduction StarForce is a software Copy prevention mechanism developed by Protection Technology. It wraps executable and DLL files using byte-code which is then interpreted through a virtual machine. In Computing, an executable (file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a file that only contains Dynamic-link library (also written without the hyphen or DLL, is Microsoft 's implementation of the Shared library concept in the Microsoft Windows Bytecode is a term which has been used to denote various forms of Instruction sets designed for efficient execution by a software interpreter as well as being suitable In Computer science, a virtual machine (VM is a Software implementation of a machine (computer that executes programs like a real machine

Although Protection Technology claims that products protected with StarForce are difficult to reverse engineer,^[1] games using the protection scheme are eventually cracked. Reverse engineering (RE is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device object or system through analysis of its structure function and operation Crack is a Unix Password cracking program designed to allow system administrators to locate users who may have weak Passwords vulnerable to a The difficulty of making cracks is highly dependent on which StarForce version has been implemented however, and how many times the protection routine is used within the game executable by the developer. In Computing, an executable (file causes a computer "to perform indicated tasks according to encoded instructions," as opposed to a file that only contains

StarForce product families

Currently known official versions of StarForce include:

StarForce Pro 3

Requires a "disk key" to be entered when the software is installed. This key is the same for all copies of the game, as it encodes the nature of the protection scheme as present on the master; this disk key is different from -- and thus should not be mistaken with -- the serial number which games traditionally use for online gameplay. An option to store the key on the product disk was added in later revisions. ^[2]

StarForce 3. 5

Added support for 64-bit systems. '64-bit' CPUs have existed in Supercomputers since the 1960s and in RISC -based workstations and servers since the early 1990s. An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination ^[3] StarForce-protected software that works on 64-bit Windows can be identified by the presence of a . x64 file in the software's install directory. Earlier versions would reboot the system or simply refuse to run the application on such systems.

StarForce FrontLine 4. 0

Fully supports 64-bit applications. '64-bit' CPUs have existed in Supercomputers since the 1960s and in RISC -based workstations and servers since the early 1990s.

Fully supports Windows Vista 32/64 bit.

The first version of StarForce to pass WHQL Testing and be "Certified for Microsoft Windows Vista" . Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing or WHQL Testing is a testing process which involves running a series of tests on third-party (i

StarForce FrontLine 4. 7^[4]

Seems it is just an evolution of 4. 0. No additional information available.

StarForce Frontline 5. 0 ^[5]

Provides a user interface for driver removal

Allows for the deactivation and reactivation of online-authenticated applications

FrontLine ProActive ^[6]

Provides DRM + Protection solution for web distributed games and applications. Disc binding replaced by web activation.

Protection Technology provides a driver update tool,^[7] but it does not widen compatibility for StarForce-protected games. For example, to add 64-bit support to a game built before StarForce supported it, a developer would be required to create patches specific to their product(s). '64-bit' CPUs have existed in Supercomputers since the 1960s and in RISC -based workstations and servers since the early 1990s.

Protection levels

There are two confirmed "tiers" of StarForce protection:

Basic

"An inexpensive solution for protection of budget products that does not require access to the product's code. It is designed for publishers and developers of software distributed on popular media or via Internet. It allows to protect the executable Windows file of the application and provide control of creation and distribution of licenses during the product’s lifetime. "

Pro

"A powerful multilevel solution that provides professional protection for software against computer piracy. It has been designed for software publishing and developing companies that distribute their software on different media and online. Pro ensures reliable protection of original data and code as well as control over creation and distribution of licenses during full life cycle of software products. "

Some of the games known to use the Pro level of protection are Bet on Soldier, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Toca Race Driver, Trackmania Sunrise, and Ubersoldier. Bet On Soldier Blood Sport is a First-person shooter developed by French developer Kylotonn, and published in the North American and UK Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is a critically acclaimed third-person Stealth-based video game developed and published by Ubisoft. TrackMania is a series of arcade Racing games for Windows and soon Nintendo DS, which include Stunting with cars track-building elements ÜberSoldier is a World War II -based First person shooter, developed by Burut and released in 2006. ^[8]

StarForce 3. 0 Reputation

StarForce 3. 0 has a reputation of being difficult to reverse-engineer,^[9] though StarForce 3. 0 protected games are eventually cracked, or through other methods have their protection bypassed. Software cracking is the modification of Software to remove protection methods Copy prevention, trial/demo version serial number hardware key CD check Cracks are sometimes released a couple of days after the official release of the game, but some games survive months or years before being compromised: Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory held 422 days before being cracked (a process which also allowed the game to run on 64-bit processors unsupported by its version of StarForce). Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Chaos Theory is a critically acclaimed third-person Stealth-based video game developed and published by Ubisoft. '64-bit' CPUs have existed in Supercomputers since the 1960s and in RISC -based workstations and servers since the early 1990s. ^[10] Other games require manuals to apply cracks to, and after that step require supplemental cracks to prevent crashes, such as Colin McRae Rally 2005. ^[11]

In March of 2006 a warez group known as RELOADED released a vast array of documentation about how StarForce 3 works. "Warez" refers primarily to Copyrighted works traded in violation of Copyright law. Alongside many technical details, it revealed how several resource-intensive procedures were implemented, such as virtual file system and functions protected with complex virtual machine. A virtual file system (VFS or virtual filesystem switch is an abstraction layer on top of a more concrete File system. In Computer science, a virtual machine (VM is a Software implementation of a machine (computer that executes programs like a real machine ^[12]

Driver installation

StarForce 3. 0 has received criticism^[13] for installing its own device driver onto computers along with the protected product or when the protected product is first run, which is generally not uninstalled along with the software (Peter Jackson's King Kong being one exception). In computing a device driver or software driver is a Computer program allowing higher-level computer programs to interact with a Hardware device Peter Jackson's King Kong The Official Game of the Movie is a First person shooter Action adventure game based on the 2005 film King Kong Colin McRae: DIRT, however, both asks the player for permission to install the drivers and includes a help file with information on how to remove them. Though a removal utility can be downloaded, StarForce has yet to be advertised or provided to users anywhere within protected games.

Lite/driverless

StarForce 3. 0 drivers are installed with certain older game demos, freeware and downloadable games, like TrackMania Nations. Freeware is computer Software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee TrackMania is a series of arcade Racing games for Windows and soon Nintendo DS, which include Stunting with cars track-building elements Their presence is intended to prevent crackers from using demo executables to help break retail executables (as the two will usually be quite similar), and can also help to prevent online cheating. Cheating in Online games are activities that modify the game experience to give one player an advantage over another player(s depending on the game different activities constitute In response to criticism over this, Protection Technologies began offering a Lite version of StarForce which, instead of installing device drivers, asks for the original CD every three days. The lite version is also used in some StarForce-protected demos and downloadable games, minus the requests for discs or any connection requirement.

Clients

CDV, Ubisoft, Digital Jesters (now defunct), JoWooD, Egosoft, Codemasters, Eagle Dynamics, Midway Games, and Bohemia Interactive Studio have used StarForce 3. Ubisoft Entertainment (formerly Ubi Soft) ( is a French computer and Video game publisher and developer with headquarters in Digital Jesters was a British Video game publisher, based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. JoWooD Productions is an Austrian Computer game publisher, founded in 1995 Egosoft is a computer game developer based in Würselen, Germany. Codemasters (earlier known as Code Masters and often nicknamed Codies in magazines is one of the longest running British Video game developers Eagle Dynamics (Игл Дайнемикс is a Software company based in Moscow that develops Video games and Oracle -based products Midway Games ( (formerly Midway Manufacturing) is an American Video game publisher. Bohemia Interactive Studio ( BIS) is an independent computer and console game developer based in Prague, the 0 on some of their products.

However, Ubisoft and JoWooD announced in 2006 that the North American version of their games would no longer use StarForce, citing "problems with StarForce's software". ^[14] CDV also announced that they were dropping StarForce for all future games in May 2006 in favor of the TAGES copy prevention system, citing customer complaints. In Etruscan mythology, Tarchies (spelled in Latin as Tages) was the god of wisdom ^[15]

Community response

Some gamers have advocated boycotts of games or publishers known to use StarForce. ^[16] These gamers claim that StarForce software causes system instability and crashes, and that Protection Technology refuses to address the damage their software causes. Ubisoft decided to investigate the extent of the StarForce boycott and ran a poll on their forums, the outcome of which was against the use of StarForce. ^[17] As a result (along with a lawsuit^[18] and general discontent on the web^[19][20]), in Heroes of Might and Magic V and GTR2, StarForce 3. Heroes of Might and Magic V (sometimes referred to as Heroes V or HoMM5) is the fifth installment of the Heroes of GTR2 is a sports car racing simulator developed under license by Blimey for SimBin for the X86 PC and is a sequel to GTR 0 was replaced by SecuROM. SecuROM is a CD / DVD Copy protection Product, most often used for Computer games running under Microsoft Windows, developed

Removal of StarForce drivers

Uninstalling a StarForce-protected game does not remove the StarForce driver from the system; it continues to run in the background. The StarForce SDK provides functions for implementors to remove the driver during uninstall of the game, but is not automatically carried out. An official utility program exists to remove the StarForce driver from the system. ^[21] The program is hosted at a third-party website with a link on the official StarForce website. ^[22] Instructions for manual removal have also been provided by the community. ^[23]

Starting from StarForce 4. 0 it includes a removal service. This service automatically uninstalls StarForce drivers after StarForce protected product is uninstalled. After the drivers are uninstalled, the service uninstalls itself as well.

Controversy

StarForce 3. 0 (until August 2006) creates a security problem when installed on a limited-access user account, as might be found on a corporate network. The access control list of the drivers are set such that any person with control over the computer, including those without administrative rights, is allowed to change the code that is run by the driver. In Computer security, an access control list ( ACL) is a list of permissions attached to an object Exploitation is simple: The user changes the ACL to point at any arbitrarily chosen executable, which is executed with full system privileges on next reboot. This can be verified with the security tool "srvcheck2", which detects such potentially insecure driver configurations.

On 2006-01-30, Boing Boing, a popular weblog, alleged that StarForce was malware, citing several problems associated with the protection system, including disk drive performance degradation, weakening of operating system security and stability. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1648 - Eighty Years' War: The Treaty of Münster is signed ending the conflict between the Netherlands and Spain Boing Boing (originally bOING bOING) is a publishing entity first established as a Magazine, later becoming a group blog. A blog (a contraction of the term " Web log " is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary descriptions of Malware, a Portmanteau word from the words '''mal'''icious and soft'''ware''', is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without Disk storage is a general category of a Computer storage mechanisms in which data is recorded on planar round and rotating surfaces ( disks, discs, or An operating system (commonly abbreviated OS and O/S) is the software component of a Computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination ^[24] A day later on 2006-01-31 Boing Boing received an email from StarForce, threatening legal action and stating that the article was "full of insults, lies, false accusations and rumors". Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1504 - France cedes Naples to Aragon. 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes ^[25] CNET ran a similar story and received similar email. CNET Networks Inc is a media company based in San Francisco California, United States, and is part of CBS Interactive, owned ^[26]

On 2006-03-05, a Protection Technology employee posted a link to a torrent search engine for the results of the search for Galactic Civilizations 2, a game developed by StarDock which does not use mandatory copy prevention, as a demonstration of what a lack of prevention can lead to. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian moves from Antioch with an army of 90000 to attack the Sassanid Empire, in a BitTorrent is a Peer-to-peer File sharing protocol used to distribute large amounts of Data. Galactic Civilizations II Dread Lords (commonly GalCiv II or GalCiv2) is a 4X Turn-based strategy Stardock Corporation is a Software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. ^[27][28] StarForce later issued an apology for this act after it received a great deal of attention on the Internet. ^[29]

See also

• SecuROM
• SafeDisc
• Extended Copy Protection ("XCP")

References

External links

• Official site
• StarForce Drivers Removal Tool Location
• A page gathering information about why and how Starforce sucks
• Boycott StarForce .net Boycott site with regional lists of StarForce protected games and detection methods. Also contains removal instructions and other information.