14 DAY TRIAL // A brand new Xbox 360 hack has surfaced on the web, enabling the console to run any sort of software besides that which is signed by Microsoft, like unsigned homebrew programs, and, as opposed to the existing hacking methods, works on any type of Xbox 360 models, including the new Slim ones.
Microsoft's Xbox 360 has seen quite a lot of piracy affect it, despite the best of efforts from the North American company to protect it in front of hackers, who always found a way to circumvent the company's security measures and play anything from homebrew applications to illegal copies of actual Xbox 360 games on the device.
With the release of the Xbox 360 Slim model, things got a lot tougher for pirates, but hackers have found ways to circumvent the protection even on that platform, at least with older models that were made before a certain date.
Now, a new exploit has appeared, called the 'Reset Glitch Hack', which works on all models of the Xbox 360 console, either the original ones or the newer Slim versions, enabling the devices to run unsigned code.
The actual hacking process, however, is quite tricky, as it requires soldering new chips onto the motherboard of the Xbox 360, as well as some patience, because it takes some time.
More specifically, the reset glitch hack uses a pulse of electricity to disrupt communication with a specific chip on the motherboard, which runs certain checks to ensure the software ran by the console is genuine.
In order to enable the pulse of electricity to run through the motherboard, extra hardware is needed, at least according to the description from The How-To Geek, and, besides running the risk of damaging your console, the hack delays the regular start-up of the console by a minute or so.
What's more, the electric pulse has a 25% chance of disrupting the security chip, so it will keep on looping its process before that is achieved.
No word yet from Microsoft about this hack, but you can expect it to try and patch the exploit with a new hardware revision in the coming months.