Breaking the console: a brief history of video game security
Summary
The article surveys three decades of video game console security, tracing how protections evolved from virtually no security on the Atari 2600 to sophisticated cryptographic boot chains and defense-in-depth architectures in modern consoles. It covers hardware lockout schemes, disc-based protections and modding, memory and boot exploits, and notable incidents across PS2, Xbox, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Switch, and beyond, drawing broad lessons about security as an architectural property.