Ethical hacking tutorials

INSIDE THE INSTALLATION ID

We focused our research on product activation via telephone. We did
so, because we expected this variant of activation to be the most
straight-forward to analyze.

The first step in activating Windows XP via telephone is supplying the
call-center agent with the Installation ID displayed by msoobe.exe,
the application that guides a user through the activation process. The
Installation ID is a number consisting of 50 decimal digits that are
divided into groups of six digits each, as in

002666-077894-484890-114573-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXXX-XX

In this authentic Installation ID we have substituted digits that we
prefer not to disclose by 'X' characters.

If msoobe.exe is invoked more than once, it provides a different
Installation ID each time.

In return, the call-center agent provides a Confirmation ID matching
the given Installation ID. Entering the Confirmation ID completes the
activation process.

Since the Installation ID is the only piece of information revealed
during activation, the above question concerning the information
transmitted during the activation process is equivalent to the
question