New iPhone App DRM Claims to Thwart Pirates
Written by enigmax on February 11, 2009Piracy of iPhone applications has become quite a hot topic recently, particularly since ‘one-click’ cracking apps such as Crackulous have become available to the public. The Kali Anti-Piracy system from Ripdev believes it has the answer, putting pirates on notice that the easy ride to free software is over.
Last week the one-click iPhone software cracking application Crackulous became officially available to the public. The software would give anyone the ability to remove the copy protection from software purchased from the Apple App Store, enabling people to share them with others.
There were mixed opinions on the news. Some thought that it was great that there was an increased potential for a flood of cracked iPhone software, but a significant number of people expressed concerns that software developers would shy away from the format if they couldn’t guarantee a revenue stream.
Of course, the piracy/anti-piracy cat-and-mouse game was inevitable and today a new DRM system has been launched by Ripdev, promising to thwart those pesky iPhone pirates.
iPhone developer Ripdev says that its new ‘Kali Anti-Piracy’ system has been in development for some months now and today sees its official ‘beta’ launch. Ripdev acknowledges it has become trivial now for anyone to become a “cool hax0r” by cracking iPhone app DRM and distributing the results worldwide, but believes that with Kali, it has the answer.
According to Ripdev, the Kali system is a server-side service which can take any App Store application and place it inside another protection wrapper which, Ripdev claim, will prevent it from being pirated. Claimed to be fully compliant with the Apple iPhone SDK, Ripdev says that Kali-protected apps meet Apple’s approval process. The company adds that it has been protecting its own software (such as Kate, i2Reader Pro, iPref and Installer) with it for months and no-one has yet cracked any of them.
There is a one-off charge for developers to start using the system. If they sell their app for $9.99 or less it’s $100. Over $9.99 and it goes up to $300. Ripdev are also taking additional ‘royalties’ for each copy protected with Kali (in order to “keep the hackers on their toes”) of between 1% and 5% of the developer’s 70% cut.
Ripdev also has a message for would-be pirates;
“Expect more and more apps to be much, much harder to crack in the near future. ;)”
The trouble is that sounds awfully like a challenge. I’d put money on that being taken up. Quickly.
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67 Responses
oh what ripdev is doing man..its not nice..
“charge additional ‘royalties’ ”
HAH FUCK THAT!
haha that DRM is going to get owned just like the rest. Their is never a full proof method no matter how many hoops you make people go threw to get their.
It just a matter of time.
So it uses a “wrapper”. This has been done before plenty of times with conventional PC software including the server side authentication (e.g. Securom). All it’ll take is for someone to design some sort of unwrapper explosing the raw application.
As long as you can read it/listen to it/watch it or even use it, it will be possible to copy it and distrubute it.
Their techniques are just ridiculus.
Wonder if they give back the “royalties” if one of their so-called “protected” applications gets cracked? I highly doubt it.
The fact is they’re trying to make money from scared developers who would probably never even notice the effects of piracy on their apps, and they’re making this money by skimming the top off of every sale of those apps for dubious protection which may not last very long.
once again anti-piracy DRM making software larger, more complicated to install and more likely to fail. the DRM will be removed in short order. The only people who will be able to use the apps as they were created by the original software engineers are the pirates. If you pay for apps you get treated like a potential thief, but not if you are one.
sounds like spore drm, and well all know how well that went
No one pirated that game it had the worlds hardist drm lmao
I think that the guy that made Crackulous actually works for Apple…
If the operating system can execute it, it can be cracked. Simple as that.
“Protect” is such a loaded word. “Protect” implies that what it is “protected against” is somehow bad. It also implies that something is actually being protected, whereas nothing really is – it is merely trying to hinder something, not protect something. A more appropriate word is to “suppress” copying. They are trying to “suppress” copying, not trying to “protect against” copying.
“Rights” in the name of “DRM” is also contradictory to the intention of DRM: it does not give rights, but rather, imposes restrictions on the user. It is “Digital Restrictions Management,” not “Digital Rights Management.”
fools if a software program can be written thus it can be unwritten
I only know how to crack an egg…
and females.. or maybe their cracking me..
not sure =0(
anyways, im sure some crackling crackler will get some “pleasure” from this.. ;)
Let’s put up a bet. How long does it take ’till we crack this?
Make something hackproof, and someone will build a better hacker.
So… um… they are using their own programs as proof to sell their anti-piracy product, stating that their programs have not been cracked yet?
I’m not an iPhone user, nor do I really care, but has any one got any information on their programs, and whether or not people actually USE them? Because if no one uses them, obviously they are not going to get cracked.
It’s kind of like creating a new illicit drug, but having no customers. Sure you can say “I can sell it and not go to jail!”… but you have no customers, so the product really isn’t going anywhere.
Cracked in 5, 4, 3 …
I love challenges. :D
loool challenge.. man are they going to regret that.
”
Rockstar North wrote:
December 2nd, 2008 | 18:09 Don’t bother to beat our protection, guys. Think we spent 200k for you to play our game for free? Think twice!
Rockstar Upper East December 2nd, 2008 | 18:24 You really can’t crack this game believe me or not. We have done everything to stop you from playing it for free”
Remember children its called hacking not cracking.
“According to Ripdev, the Kali system is a server-side service which can take any App Store application and place it inside another protection wrapper which, Ripdev claim, will prevent it from being pirated.”
That’s nothing new. Plenty of games has had server-side authentication, and the only thing the cracker has to do is remove the homephoning bit of code. Or just emulate the homephoning.
Bandit / 20:
Cracking is removing some of the code to make it work. Hacking is adding code to emulate.
Please check your facts.
somethins not right here.. they couldnt be that stupid to challenge them.. i mean if there scam is the take money from devolepers.. you would think they would try to slip it under the table and mabye the crackers wont really get around to it since nobody gives a shit..
but now.. there going to do it in spite of them.. just to make all there effort and money wasted.
Haha who even wants an iphone. Thats a posers phone.
My phone has a cracked screen and i melted some of the side buttons when i was bored — And it does me just fine :D
someone go hack ripdev’s site already, I think they earned it for selling out.
Kate, i2Reader Pro, iPref and Installer are all cracked. PWNED
Bugger the iphone. id rather go out and get googles android phone, all the apps on that are free to begin with. i wonder how they still exist?
When a cracker wants to crack DRM, they have a known condition they can test against; Does it work?
When a company wants to create new DRM, they’re working against completely theoretical conditions; How will they try and crack this? What tools will they use? Etc.
It’s always easier to deal with the known than the unknown.
a blatent challenge will be dispensed with, wasnt BluRay encryption supposed to last 4 years, and was hacked in 4 days?
“If they sell their app for $9.99 or less it’s $100. Over $9.99 and it goes up to $300. Ripdev are also taking additional ‘royalties’ for each copy protected with Kali”
Ah, so Ripdev convinces iPhone developers they need Kali, and then sucks their blood like a parasite through fees and royalties.
Well, if it’s good enough for the MAFIAA…
@Roze
“It is “Digital Restrictions Management,” not “Digital Rights Management.””
I think “Digital Rights Suppression” would be the most accurate.
“he company adds that it has been protecting its own software (such as Kate, i2Reader Pro, iPref and Installer) with it for months and no-one has yet cracked any of them.”
But who would want to crack those. Honestly.
boycot?
““he company adds that it has been protecting its own software (such as Kate, i2Reader Pro, iPref and Installer) with it for months and no-one has yet cracked any of them.”
But who would want to crack those. Honestly.”
Exactly. These are the people who can’t even compete with cydia and both cydia and installer are free. If you’ve used the latest version of installer, it seems like it’s programmed by a 10 year old. These peeps can’t even load the images in to allow a smooth scrolling list! Yeah, I say let them maybe get a client or three then just crazck the shite out of everything they release.
oh yeah, why not also do a search for the grand trashing of phones kate is known for as well.
CSS: CHECK!
AACS: CHECK!
BDRM: CHECK!
BD+: CHECK!
FairPlay: CHECK!
Windows Media: CHECK!
SafeDisc: CHECK!
Starforce: CHECK!
Tages: CHECK!
SecuRom: CHECK!
Sony-BMG Rootkit: CHECK!
Kali Anti-Piracy: initializing…
ect ect ect
@19
”
Rockstar North wrote:
December 2nd, 2008 | 18:09 Don’t bother to beat our protection, guys. Think we spent 200k for you to play our game for free? Think twice!
Rockstar Upper East December 2nd, 2008 | 18:24 You really can’t crack this game believe me or not. We have done everything to stop you from playing it for free”
By “stop you from playing it for free” they meant they made it consume ungodly amounts of resources while leaking memory to the point that textures fail to load an hour into the game on a 1gb vram card so that you completely lose the desire to play, cracked or legitimate.
The reason why Ripdev products, such as Kate, have not been pirated is because no one wants them. Those that do try the trials find them unstable or worthless. They try to fix problems that aren’t there. Installer has also bricked many phones requiring restoration.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if someone cracked Kali and used it to “protect” their software – for free?
Not saying this is a good idea, just pointing out the potential for humor.
I suck dick for being a cracker. Sorry devs.
“haha that DRM is going to get owned just like the rest.”
Right… have you been copying PS3 games lately or something?
Isnt this site about computer filesharing related things? Who cares about toys???
There’s no working 100% copy-protection for the simple reason that the whole business is to sell the shit which means you have to be able to somehow “copy”/”duplicate” it.
So any wanker can say they got the perfect antipiracy tool, the only perfect one would only allow ONE unduplicable instance, which is 100% useless.
Anyhow, how long til people finally realize there’s not a single reason to be FORCED to pay just for a bunch of electrical 0s and 1s !
Just curious, out of all the pirated apps, what seems to be the price point of targeted apps? If the apps cost $1 are they really going to be targeted for such a low cost? $3 even? $10 and up I can see being a reasonable target for consumers.
As @9 said:
If it can be executed, it can be cracked.
There is no “perfect protection”
If it can run, then it can be cracked.
I was interested until I saw the part about royalties. Greedy bastards, I ain’t paying royalties! And what’s the guarantee that this won’t be cracked overnight!?
Apple needs to do something about their DRM being cracked ASAP. I don’t understand how they manage to disable jailbreaking with every firmware release, but they haven’t done a single thing at all to try and fix their DRM. Jailbreaking is pretty harmless and doesn’t cost them money but it seems to be top priority for them. While, having their DRM cracked is costing them millions in lost royalties and is losing their developers tons of money too. They need to act fast. Even if it becomes a cat and mouse game and they never have a 100% foolproof solution, they at least need to find a way to disable all pirated copies with each firmware release and then make it harder and hard to crack moving forward. Apple is really dropping the ball on this bigtime!
“I don’t understand how they manage to disable jailbreaking with every firmware release, but they haven’t done a single thing at all to try and fix their DRM”
Apple doesn’t like DRM. Whether it even works is low on their list of priorities. Extremely low.
How the hell do you expect them to care about “fixing” their DRM when we’re talking about a company that doesn’t even ship their products with copy protection, anyway? You’re surprised? Really?
As to why they try to disable jailbreaking is anyone’s guess, though.
if you crack an app that you end up liking, and you don’t consequently pay for it, then you’re shitting on the garage developers out there who are just trying to make some money from doing some hard work.
I see a lot of comments here laughing at overcoming drm, well… laugh where it makes sense, (ie drm on music is bullshit), but do it with apps and you’re gonna kill the developers who are the little guys like you.
Let’s see how fast we can screw over those hard-working software developers!
Kate is actually cracked already, but like was posted before. Who wants to crack those anyway?
what everyone is forgetting is ‘piracy’ was and started as/for a social scene to test peoples skills. Also when you take a CD or an overpriced peice of software froma giant, it effect them little but when you skimp on 15 from a solo idependant developer it really hurts
Red rag to a bull
My vote’s on the bull, every time. Hackers live for the challenge.
I suspect this challenge will be underwhelming for them.
The real intelligence and challenge is to write an app that is useful and solves a problem, regardless the platform.
Spending your time cracking apps that cost a dollar, takes no more than living with mommy (unemployed losers) and an IQ <= your shoe size.
In the end, developers will still have the IQ and jobs while crackers will still be nothing more than shit sniffing wastes of oxygen living in their mommies basements, using the work of others to steal .99 software.
1. ripDEV are pants… they’re just trying to make a quick buck and will probably make a hash of this as they did with Installer;
2. The appstore is only useful if you want multiple clones of the same app, wi?th these clones generally priced between free to $9.99, and games.. games is the only thing the appstore is really useful for.. if you want real apps you have to jailbreak and go for Cydia due to the Appstore restrictions.
3. the effort to prevent piracy is warranted but the cracking of Appstore applications is just the response to a highly flawed appstore…
?
What a joke. Nothing will ever be secure and surely they must realise this.
Someone please crack all of these peoples stuff. they are annoying.
You may use Google for this theme, it may be interesting.
Do you plan relatd topics inthis blog?
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Thanx for this blog! =)
It’s ironic how guys who crack phone firmware (officially announced as illegal by Apple) screams about pirates and trying to sell they protector.
How can I found this information in spanish?
You can us MSN and you find mcuh interesting by this topic
Very live blog, respect to blogger!
What do you think sbout this topic?
Let’s befin to understand betwen phrases.. :)
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