jfroebe has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Hi,

Does anyone know how to determine if a video file (windows media) requires a license key to view the file or where to look? I've been poking around the MSDN site and haven't found anything...

I'm thinking along the lines of Win32::OLE but I suspect it will be excrutiatingly slow.

A friend's website was hacked earlier and she needs to verify that the media files themselves are still good (sorry, they are training material not porn).

Jason L. Froebe

Team Sybase member

No one has seen what you have seen, and until that happens, we're all going to think that you're nuts. - Jack O'Neil, Stargate SG-1

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: video & license keys
by thor (Priest) on Dec 31, 2004 at 18:55 UTC
    I'm sorry that I don't know how to do this. However, not that this is of any help to your friend now, but if he cares about the integrity of his files, he should use something more robust than checking to see if the file requires a license key. Storing MD5 hashes of the files on read-only media, Tripwire that runs and logs to another computer, etc. I mean, who's to say that the hacker didn't replace his files with other files that require a license key? That would defeat the check that you're trying to perform, but would leave hacked files in place of the good ones...

    thor

    Feel the white light, the light within
    Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will
    For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come

[reply]

      I agree.. but md5 hashes of the files weren't done prior to the hack. My task is simply to verify that the license requirement is in each file (there are many many different licenses due to the many sources of the files).

      basically detailed requirement is:

    • identify files without license requirements
    • verify the license requirement metadata

      • Now, if I can determine if the file requires a key, then I'm nearly done. Racking my brain on this one :-(

      Jason L. Froebe

      Team Sybase member

      No one has seen what you have seen, and until that happens, we're all going to think that you're nuts. - Jack O'Neil, Stargate SG-1

[reply]
        All I'm saying is that those who don't learn from experience are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over. Your friend has an opportunity here to, once he's verified that all the files are correct, to impliment some sort of signature on the files. That way, should this situation arise again, it's as simple as verifying the signature against the file.

        thor

        Feel the white light, the light within
        Be your own disciple, fan the sparks of will
        For all of us waiting, your kingdom will come

[reply]

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