Includes bibliographical references and index.

The Video Game Console Market -- About Hackers and Hacking -- The Politics of Hacking -- The People Behind the Hacks -- Voiding the Warranty -- Tools of the Trade -- Tools to Open Things Up -- Tools to Attach and Remove Components -- Tools to Test and Diagnose -- Tools for Design -- Deconstructing the Xbox -- Safety First -- Remove Case Screws -- Remove the Top Cover -- Move the Disk Drives -- Remove the Disk Drives (Optional) -- Reassembling the Xbox -- Thinking Inside the Box -- Reading a Circuit Board -- Circuit Board Basics -- Components -- Test Points -- Xbox Architecture -- High-Level Organization -- CPU -- Northbridges and Southbridges -- RAM -- ROM -- Pattern Matching -- Comparison: Xbox Versus the PC -- Contrast: Xbox Versus the Gamecube -- Installing a Blue LED -- Removing the Xbox Front Panel -- Removing the Front Panel Circuit Board -- Installing the Blue LED -- Reassembling the Front Panel -- Debugging -- Building a USB Adapter -- Starting Materials -- Strategy -- Implementation -- Replacing a Broken Power Supply -- Diagnosing a Broken Power Supply -- Replacing the Power Supply -- Strategy -- Procedure -- Building the Xbox Power Cable -- Installing the Replacement Power Supply -- Operating with the Replacement Power Supply -- Debugging Tips -- The Best Xbox Game: Security Hacking -- First Encounters with a Paranoid Design -- To Snarf a ROM -- An Encounter with Microsoft -- Analyzing the ROM Contents -- A Brief Primer on Security -- Who Needs Security, Anyways? -- A Brief Primer on Cryptography -- Classes of Cryptographic Algorithms -- SHA-1 Hash -- TEA -- RC-4 -- RSA -- The Rest of the Picture -- Reverse Engineering Xbox Security -- Extracting Secrets from Hardware -- Eavesdropping a High Speed Bus -- Tapping the Bus on a Budget -- Building the Data Logger -- Determining the Bus Order and Polarity -- Making Sense of the Captured Data -- Sneaking in the Back Door -- Back Doors and Security Holes -- Visor Jam Table Attacks -- MIST Premature Unmap Attack -- Microsoft Retaliates -- Reverse Engineering v1.1 Security -- The Threat of Back Doors -- More Hardware Projects -- The LPC Interface -- LPC Interface on the Xbox -- Using the LPC Interface -- The Other 64 MB of SDRAM -- Xbox VGA -- Mass Storage Replacement -- Developing Software for the Xbox -- Xbox-Linux -- OpenXDK -- Caveat Hacker -- Caveat Hacker: A Primer on Intellectual Property / Lee Tien -- Copyright -- Patent -- Trade Secrets -- The Constitutional Copyright Bargain -- The Traditional View of Reverse Engineering -- Trade Secrecy and "Improper Means" -- Copyright Law and the Problem of Intermediate Copying -- Patent Law -- New Challenges for Reverse Engineers -- The Digital Millennium Copyright Act and the Problem of Unauthorized Access -- Unauthorized Access -- Circumvention Technologies -- Navigating the DMCA's Exemptions -- 1201(f): reverse-engineering for interoperability -- 1201(g): encryption research -- 1201(j): security research -- End-User License Agreements and Contractual Prohibitions on Reverse-Engineering -- Trade Secrets and the Economic Espionage Act -- The Responsible Hacker: Ignorance Is No Defense -- Civil and Criminal Offenses and Penalties -- Reverse Engineering as "The Freedom to Tinker" and Other Legal Issues -- Onward! -- The Hacking Community -- Hacking Fora -- Making a Contribution -- Trusted Computing -- Taking a Step Back -- Palladium Versus TCPA -- Hacking the Trusted PC -- Looking Forward -- Where to Get Your Hacking Gear -- Vendors for Hobbyists -- Prepared Equipment Order Forms -- Soldering Techniques -- Introduction to Soldering -- Use Flux -- Surface Mount Soldering -- Technique for Simple Components -- Technique for Complex Components -- Technique for Removing Components -- Getting into PCB Layout -- Philosophy and Design Flow -- Refining Your Idea -- Schematic Capture -- Board Layout -- General Placement and Routing Guidelines -- Leave Space for Via Fanouts on Surface Mount Devices -- Decoupling Capacitors Fit Nicely Under SMD Pads -- Know Your Special Traces -- Circuit Boards Make Fine Heatsinks -- Establish Preferred Routing Directions for Each Layer -- Stack a Board with Orthogonal Layers -- On Two-Layer Boards, Use Fingers to Bus Power -- Hints on Using an Auto-Router -- CAD Tools -- Board Fabrication Companies -- Sierra Proto Express -- Data Circuit Systems -- Advanced Circuits -- Alberta Printed Circuits -- Starter Projects -- Getting Started with FPGAs -- Designing for an FPGA -- Project Ideas -- Debugging: Hints and Tips -- Don't Panic! -- Understand the System -- Observe Symptoms -- Common Bugs -- Recovering from a Lifted Trace or Pad -- Xbox Hardware Reference -- Power Supply Pinout -- Video Connector Pinout -- USB Connector Pinout -- Ethernet Connector Pinout -- ATA Connector Pinout -- DVD-ROM Power Connector -- LPC Connector -- Fan Connector -- Front Panel Connector.

This hands-on guide to hacking Microsoft's powerful video games console starts with step-by-step tutorials on hardware modification that teach basic hacking techniques as well as essential reverse engineering skills. Full discussions of the Xbox security mechanisms and other advanced hacking topics are here, along with practical pointers from hacking gear resources to soldering techniques. Xbox owners are shown exactly how to increase the value and utility of their Xbox, as well as problem-solve. The book covers the social and political implications of hacking, profiles the humans behiind the hacks in candid interviews, and includes a chapter written by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on the rights and responsibilities of hackers. Debugging tips, a hardware reference guide, and a discussion of the latest trends and vulnerabilities in secure PC platforms wrap it up.