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Chinese hackers have cracked Microsoft's 'Black screen of death.' (Liu Jin/AFP/Getty Images)
On October 20, Microsoft China announced that they would release an anti-piracy patch in China called the “Black Screen of Death” to combat pirated versions of Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office software. Hours after the release, Chinese Internet users asserted that Chinese hackers have already broken the anti-piracy patch. It is not yet confirmed whether the hackers have been able to crack all the anti-piracy patch specifications.
The “Black Screen of Death” causes computers with unauthorized Windows XP Professional to display a black screen when starting the computer. Users with the pirated version could reset the background and return it to normal use, but the black screen is set to reoccur every 60 minutes. In addition, when a user logs into a pirated system, a dialog box will pop up at the right corner of the screen, saying, "You may be a victim of pirated software."
Media reports cited Microsoft China saying that users of unauthorized software would not have to worry about the specifications too much. Microsoft will not be using pre-installation data collected through their Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) or Office Genuine Advantage (OGA) software to sue anybody at this time.
Support For Hackers
Many Chinese Internet users expressed their support for the hackers, calling them geniuses. Some Internet users even warned Microsoft, “If Microsoft insists [on using the “Black Screen of Death], then we will put up with it.”
According to a poll carried out by Tencent Computer System Company, about 83.6 percent of Chinese Internet users are hostile to WGA and OGA. In addition, 60.71 percent (57,028 users) say they will continue to use unauthorized versions of Window XP and Microsoft Office after they have been identified as pirate versions; 33.48 percent (31,449 users) will ignore the warning messages, whereas only 5.82 percent (5,465 users) said they would buy and install authorized copies.