By Steve Ragan Dec 11, 2006, 0:16 GMT

Well it was going to happen; you can’t write a EULA like the one for Vista without seeing a response to circumvent it. This week security headlines were made with the public release of the Melinda Gates hack. This hack allows users to activate Vista without alerting Microsoft.

The hack and the target for attack is the KMS or Key Management system that Microsoft designed to allow users to manage the license keys for their Windows software.

Vista must be authorized or ‘activated’ by Microsoft before it will run on any computer. The attack targets this by allowing users to spoof this service and taking advantage of the offering by Microsoft to allow corporate users to keep a local copy of KMS on their network. By allowing the company to run a local KMS they can setup, install and deploy several Vista desktops in a corporate environment and not contact Microsoft each time one is deployed.

The software title allowing this spoof is available for download on several P2P networks. While this seems like a good thing, those who read the ELUA for Vista know if you are caught, you will pay dearly for this criminal offence.

KMS is only one way to “activate” Vista, the other known methods such as doing so online and over the phone. In regards to the hack for KMS there was no comment out of Redmond.

It should be noted the main need for this hack will come from companies who use the VLK (Volume License Key) packs, and wish to upgrade several PC desktops. The con’s will far outweigh the pro’s here, and it will not be long before there is a fix for this hack.

Source : http://tech.monstersandcritics.com

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