Philipp Marx is CEO of Marx Security Software
For almost three decades the software industry has forced legitimate, legal software users "to jump through activation hoops and endure limited usage licenses". On the other hand we are looking at a multi-billion dollar industry that is trying to protect its intellectual property as well as extensive development and maintenance investments. And it’s a continuing battle. For every new method that appears in order to stop the seemingly endless march of the software pirate, a new method of working around such restrictions is being devised and posted on the many “crack” sites on the Internet. It’s a war that has many casualties. But surely there must be a golden path through the middle of it all?
We at Marx believe that there is a key to unlimited gaming. We have been in the software security business for many years now, and work with many of the leading Fortune 500 companies in protecting various digital IP. Now we’re helping the leading games companies in this field. The holy grail of software protection is an unobtrusive security device that protects intellectual property, and gives the legal user benefits and advantages to make its use attractive. It also has to be simple, failsafe and, perhaps most importantly, it has to in no way detract from the experience of the entertainment that it is trying to protect. If a security device fails any of those tests then it will be consigned to the dark annals of history.
So what is the solution? Well, that depends on who your audience is. In most DRM issues the end-user is the focal point. Prevent the end-user from stealing your IP and all is right with the world. But there are other considerations: what about middleware? Engines and AI tools are expensive to develop, and the temptation to work around the license fee structure via illegitimate means could potentially cost many millions of dollars in lost revenue. These non-consumer facing IP’s are the engine rooms of the games industry and are a valuable commodity. And what about Alpha and Beta code? If your latest smash game is suddenly released into the wild then revenue is going to be hit, and hard. So I don’t believe that it’s just the consumer that needs to be provided with a legitimate security solution. It is the entire IP chain.
Take as an example our thumb-sized CRYPTO-BOX USB token. It’s designed to look like a fashion accessory and be as easy to use and, perhaps more importantly, be as unobtrusive as possible. The metal case is water and irradiation proof. As we’ve already seen with past systems, what seem like minor inconveniences at the time (playing the game on a slightly oversized TV, getting the manual wet etc.) can render a legitimate purchase useless. If a security system is to work then it has to be almost transparent from the user point of view. Simplicity through design will always win out. If you can plug a CRYPTO-BOX USB token into the relevant port of your PC or console and leave it to do the job it was designed for then you move a long way towards taking away the fear of protection and the associated systems.
The CRYPTO-BOX USB token implements the AES / Rijndael algorithm through its own hardware. By doing this, it does not expose any of the algorithmic process through the host computer resources. You now have a system that meets two of the most important criteria for DRM – absolute security coupled with simplicity of use. The Rijndael algorithm used also offers extreme safety and great performance, as well as high efficiency. By comparison, mere obfuscation and activation cannot measure up with hardware based encryption.
All industries can benefit from real security solutions, but perhaps none more so than the interactive entertainment industry. The product that it sells is merely a grand collection of 0’s and 1’s, put together in so beautiful a way as to take players to the outer reaches of space, or the cockpit of a formula 1 car, in a photo-realistic manner unimagined a few years ago. The distribution of intellectual property such as this, along with services sold over the Internet, electronic distribution and pay-per-use systems, all offer new International distribution channels. Conversely, they also offer new temptations and illegitimate channels for software piracy. By making use hardware solutions these illegitimate channels can be locked out and the industry can move forward, safe in the knowledge that it is doing all it can to protect its IP and, therefore, its livelihood.