Denuvo

Denuvo

Developer(s)	Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH
Initial release	2014
Platform	Microsoft Windows
License	Proprietary software
Website	denuvo.com

Denuvo Anti-Tamper, or Denuvo, is an anti-tamper technology and digital rights management (DRM) scheme developed by the Austrian company Denuvo Software Solutions GmbH, a company formed through the management buyout (MBO) of Sony DADC DigitalWorks.

Technology

Early reports suggested that Denuvo Anti-Tamper "continuously encrypts and decrypts itself so that it is impossible to crack."^[1] Denuvo Software Solutions has stated that the technology "does not continuously encrypt and decrypt any data on storage media. To do so would be of no benefit in terms of security or performance." The company has not revealed how Denuvo Anti-Tamper works.^[2] The Chinese warez group 3DM claimed to have defeated Denuvo Anti-Tamper on 1 December 2014. The group claimed that the technology involves a "64-bit encryption machine" that requires cryptographic keys unique to the specific hardware of each installed system.^[3]

Later, in early December, the same group released a crack for the video game Dragon Age: Inquisition, which uses Denuvo Anti-Tamper to protect Electronic Arts' Origin Online Access DRM.^[4] But this took almost a month, which is unusually long for PC games.^[4] Asked about the development, Denuvo acknowledged that "every protected game eventually gets cracked".^[4] Ars Technica noted that most legitimate sales for major games happened within 30 days of release, and so publishers may consider Denuvo a success if it meant a game took significantly longer to be cracked.^[5]

Games protected by Denuvo require an online re-activation for every hardware upgrade. Denuvo limits activations at 4 hardware upgrades per 24 hours.^[6][7] Denuvo also requires access to the Internet once every 24 hours to validate the activation data of the game.

In January 2016, 3DM reportedly nearly gave up attempting to crack Just Cause 3, which is protected with Denuvo, due to the difficulties associated with the process.^[8] They also warned that due to the current trends in encryption technology, in two years' time, the cracking of video games may become impossible.^[8][9] Denuvo's Thomas Goebl believes that some console-only releases may get PC release in future due to this technology.^[9] It was announced that 3DM would stop all research on Denuvo Anti-Tamper, stop cracking all single-player games from February 2016 for one whole year, start relying on other crackers and see if the sales have increased in China in one year's time.^[10]

In early August 2016, it was reported that the Denuvo protection found in Doom had been bypassed by a cracker named Voksi.^[11] Bypasses for many other Denuvo protected games were released within the following days.^[12] Although the exploit used for these bypasses was patched 3 days after the first bypass was released, news followed that Rise of the Tomb Raider, Inside and Doom^[13] had been fully cracked by the scene group CONSPIR4CY (CPY),^[14] by successfully emulating the Denuvo protection and patching the remaining in game triggers.

Playdead later removed Denuvo from their game Inside in their later patches.

Controversy

Some consumers have alleged that Denuvo Anti-Tamper shortens the lifetime of solid-state drives (SSDs) by writing an excessive amount of data to the drive.^{[1][15][16][17]} Denuvo Software Solutions responded by claiming that "Denuvo Anti-Tamper does not constantly read or write any data to storage media."^[2]

List of Denuvo games

Games that are officially acknowledged to use, or reportedly use, Denuvo Anti-Tamper include:

Notes

References