Late last year, a skilled hacker who goes by the name “Muslix64” circumvented the copy protection system used to protect HD DVD. Given the resemblances between the copy protection methods used in the high-definition optical formats, it was only a matter of time before Blu-ray Disc’s protections would be evaded.
However, Muslix64 has no access to Blu-ray hardware, limiting his exploit methods to HD DVD. That is, until Muslix64 came across some specific data for Blu-ray Disc, allowing him to apply his methods to the yet-uncracked format.
Even without any Blu-ray hardware at his disposal, Muslix64 shortly followed his findings reveal with the alpha release of BackupBluRay V.0.21, software he wrote to decrypt Blu-ray Discs.
Restrictions to his software at this time are that it doesn’t support BD+ or volume unique keys and that it only supports one CPS key per disc. Users wanting to utilize the software will also have to provide their own CPS unit key.
Those who have tried the software detailed that they have successfully been able to decrypt and copy their own Blu-ray Discs for playback on both PC software and set-top players. If the cracking of HD DVD and the release of pirated files is of any warning, however, Blu-ray may soon see illegal copies hitting the black market and parts of the Internet.
