Gemstar's RocketBook Cracked

Encryption removed from RocketBook format

May 2 2001

Gemstar's RocketBook format appears to have been cracked by a hacker. The hacker successfully removed encryption from eBooks in the '.REB' format.

Gemstar was notified of the problem when someone posted messages to forums containing the necessary code and instructions to reproduce the hack.

The hacker said in his statement to the forums, "...My goal was, and continues to be, to point out the weaknesses of DRM (digital rights management) systems, in the hope that these systems will either grow so much to collapse under their own weight or be abandoned as futile...".

A person masquerading as the hacker has continued to circulate the original code and instructions via email around the web.

In an attempt to resolve the problem, Gemstar introduced a system whereby when customers downloaded their ebooks from the Gemstar servers, not only did they download the book, they also downloaded a patch for their operating system. Apprarently preventing any other people from removing encryption in the same way.

However, whilst the hacker was exploiting the original hole in the RocketBook format they also became aware of other problems that could not be solved with the same simplistic server-side solution.

According to the hacker, Gemstar will need to release a new device and file format with an updated encryption scheme. Older eBook readers will not be able to read the new file format and new readers will not be able to read the old ebook format.

For obvious reasons, the list manager of The eBook Community (formerly The eBook List) has removed the posting containing the uploaded executable and detailed instructions.

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