Hacking the Xbox

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Hacking the Xbox: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
Hacking Fora
The Xbox hacking community has many civic fora for sharing their results
and airing their concerns. The most popular fora are web-based BBSes such
as www.XboxHacker.net and www.xbox-scene.com, and IRC
channels such as #xboxhacker. Web-based BBSes typically feature news
logs, FAQs, and useful links to information. More importantly, BBSes
include fora where people can share information and post questions.
Through these fora, you can tap the collective knowledge of all the
hackers that frequent these BBSes. The logged history of these fora also
contains a wealth of Xbox hacking information (and misinformation). I
encourage readers who have unanswered questions from this book to
check out these fora for answers.
One of the first Xbox hacking fora to be created was the XboxHacker BBS
(www.xboxhacker.net). Many of the best and brightest Xbox hackers
have contributed to its fora. For example, one of the forum threads
documents, in real-time, the adventures of Andy Green (known as
numbnut on the XboxHacker BBS) as he hacked the version 1.1 security
scheme of the Xbox. I have learned much from reading the forum
postings of the XboxHacker BBS. I have also met some of the most
interesting people through the BBS fora. The founder of the
XboxHacker BBS, Dan Johnson (also known as SiliconIce) tells his story
in the sidebar “Profile: Dan Johnson.”
Another resource for finding more information about the Xbox in general
is the web search engine Google (www.google.com). As more hackers
become involved with the Xbox, Google is becoming an increasingly
important tool for casting a wide net and discovering the latest tools and
techniques. For example, at the time of writing Google started indexing a
number of resources for replacement Xbox components. This can be useful
for those who do not want to go through the trouble of adapting an ATX
power supply to work with the Xbox.
Try to use keywords that are as specific as possible when searching with
Google. For example, typing Xbox hacking into Google will return a
large number of links related to the general topic of Xbox hacking, but
few specifics. For example, today’s top hit on Google for “Xbox
hacking” is a LWN.net article titled “LWN: Lindows CEO funds Xbox
hacking contest (News.com).” This seems fairly removed from information
about how to install a new hard drive or the details about the Xbox
security system. When narrowing down your search, try to figure out
what the de facto jargon and spelling is for your concept. Suppose you
are looking for information on the new Xbox security system. If you
search on new Xbox, you hardly get any technical information. However,
if you search on xbox v1.1 the search returns many more useful
technical results. One of the best ways to harvest the current jargon and
acronyms is by browsing the hacking BBSes.