Wii Internet Connection Reverse Engineered

AlexTheBeast writes "By packet sniffing his Wi-Fi connection, this hacker has already begun to dig into the internet interactions of the new Nintendo Wii. Basically, by using Firefox and after setting the user agent correctly, anybody can easily browse many WiiShop pages including the WiiShop main page and startup manual. More advanced connections including binary and virtual console downloads are currently in the works. Come join the project."

That's what happens...

[tttonyyy]

..when developers play with their Wii.

(Sorry, couldn't resist YAWJ (Yet Another Wii Joke))

Bad smell

[Rastignac]

I don't want to sniff out my wii. ;)

So ... What's next

[HappySqurriel]

So ... what's next?

Will we be getting a news story about a Hacker who had installed the Wiis web-browser on his PC by going to http://www.opera.com/ [opera.com] ?

Re:Correction

[tttonyyy]

Given the number of consoles Nintendo must be anticipating serving those pages to, I'd expect them to be pretty much unslashdottable. A few people from slashdot? T'is but a scratch!

DMCA violation...?

[__aaclcg7560]

Isn't reverse engineering the Wii packets to figure out the proper browser user string a DMCA violation?

It's actually a very good name.

[Anonymous Coward]

Wii was a very good name to choose, just because of how much it sounds like a pet name for the penis.

Here in Finland there used to be a brand of chocolate milk called Jukiuilla. That sounds very, very close to a word which translates best to English as "bloody assrape".

People remembered that brand of milk. It became a hit sensation among teens just because of its name. While other chocolate milks had more benign names, that chocolate milk had a name that stood out. I think Nintendo has managed, intentionally or not, to do the same thing.

why does this even work?

[v1]

I am very surprised we are not seeing them use public key encryption here. If the wii has microsoft's public key, it can send encrypted requests which cannot be reverse engineered unless you are able to guess microsoft's private key. The way around this would be to disasemble the code on the wii. Since they are merely using packet sniffing, the traffic must not be encrypted. If someone were to have bet me if this would have been encrypted, well, I guess I would be out some money about now. Not that it's a bad thing for us, but what is microsoft thinking?? They had to know this would happen, and I can't believe they would sit idle and let it occur.

Though I suppose in a couple months we'll see a "software update" (i.e. they drop the portcullis) and that'll be the end of the tinkering without a screwdriver.

Re:Welcome to the New Console Hack-fest

[iapetus]

Yes. With potential security holes like this, I doubt it'll be long before we see some sort of crazy hack to run Linux on the PS3. Wouldn't that be great?

Re:DMCA violation...?

[Midnight Thunder]

Isn't reverse engineering the Wii packets to figure out the proper browser user string a DMCA violation?

Depends. Reverse engineering is not a violation, but cracking encryption is.

Note I haven't ever read the DMCA, so am I am relying on what I have heard on forums and new sites.

Re:It's actually a very good name.

[somersault]

Wow.. interesting why anyone would want to think about pounded crap while drinking chocolate milk :s Yuck

Re:Bad smell

[MyDixieWrecked]

well, I've been playing with my wii so much, my arm is sore

in fact, all my muscles are stiff. I'm in such bad shape, my wii makes me stiff.

Re:It's actually a very good name.

[eln]

The Finns have a word for "bloody assrape"? I'm suddenly afraid to go to Finland.

Re:Bad smell

[inKubus]

I'm in such bad shape, my wii makes me stiff.

I can't decide if this is a Soviet Russia joke in disguise...

Piss 3

[tepples]

In the UK, wee is the "pet" name for piss.

So what does that make the Piss-3?

Re:It's actually a very good name.

[Propaghandi]

This reminds of something that a particularly sick coworker of mine saw in an adult bookstore: "Milkshaking". It involved a guy anally violating a young woman who had diarrhea, and the subsequent discharge (and no, we're not talking about Santorum!). That image put me off Wendy's Frosties for 6 months .

Mike