Despite Microsoft’s protection mechanisms, hacking communities have already found code exploits/loopholes, which allow the Xbox 360 to execute unsigned code and software. A number of these systems are also able to connect to a network, often via the Internet to enable online gaming and other forms of social interaction exchanging messages and information. Games consoles now pose a problem on a number of possible levels: They now commonly include some form of storage media that can include user preferences, settings and game related information, these storage devices could be modified and misused to conceal additional information.
The increase in the number of games consoles (.uk, 2009) has provided yet another potential source of information for forensic analysis. In addition to storage media contained in the more common laptop and desktop computing platforms, investigators are now expected to examine PDAs, cellular phones, satellite navigation systems and now games consoles (Lim and Lee, 2008). The volume of digital material submitted for forensic analysis now provides a serious challenge to investigative agencies. This paper is an initial look into the console and examines the type of data of forensic value that might be contained on the system and outlines the steps required to recover information from an Xbox 360 Hard Disk Drive, as suggested basic guidelines for future investigations. This paper examines one of these consoles, the Xbox 360, the leader in hardware sales in recent years, which currently ships with a standard 2.5’’ SATA hard disk drive. The most recent and popular games consoles (i.e., based on total amount of sales up to (.uk, 2009)) include, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and the Sony Playstation 3. A malicious user could potentially use these games consoles to commit or facilitate criminal acts and thus should be researched and examined. The ability to use consoles in this fashion increases the potential of the device’s storage media containing data of forensic value. Some of these activities involve user specific content being saved on the consoles storage media. This functionality is ever increasing as manufactures produce many hardware add-ons for these systems such as cameras with the ability to take and view photos and record digital video. Internet and in combination with the inbuilt storage this gives games consoles a whole host of new capabilities, including the downloading of games, updating console software/firmware and streaming media from different network locations.
#Fatx format tool xbox 360 install#
Additional functionality in newer consoles includes the ability to install and run other operating systems (OS) alongside the native host OS, connect to networks, in particular the From a digital forensics perspective these storage devices can contain an amount of information that could prove useful in digital investigations.
These systems still rely on some form of local storage media, be that flash based or hard disk drive based. Multiple CPUs and high-end graphic cards are just a few basic requirements. The increased complexity of games over recent years has resulted in games consoles now containing more advanced sophisticated hardware. We present our findings and provide suggested basic guidelines for future investigations to be able to recover stored remnants of information from the drive. This paper will look at analyzing the SATA hard disk drive contained in Microsoft’s Software/firmware, streaming media from different network locations, activities centredĪround social networking and usually involving user specific content being saved on theĬonsoles storage media. When combined with networks, particularly the internet, this inbuilt storage gives gamesĬonsoles a host of new features, including the downloading of games, updating of console In terms of forensics the most significant inclusion in today’s games consoles is the storage media, whether they are flash based memory cards, or electro-mechanical hard disk drives. It is not uncommon for gamesĬonsoles to now feature many pieces of hardware similar to those found in a standard Upscale of the hardware in the consoles required to run them. In recent years an increase in the complexity of games has subsequently demanded an Available at journal homepage: Xbox 360: A digital forensic investigation of the hard disk drive Konstantinos Xynos*, Simon Harries, Iain Sutherland, Gareth Davies, Andrew Blyth University of Glamorgan, Faculty of Advanced Technology, Pontypridd CF371DL, United Kingdom
0 kommentar(er)
