StarForce is making a valiant effort to shoot off their own foot lately. Last we heard of them, which wasn't too long ago, they linked to pirated software as a way of making an argument about the importance of their copyright protection system. StarForce has already been linked to multiple examples of system instability and crashes as a result of their "protection." Now posters at the Futuremark forums have discovered another, even worse problem.

This latest identified threat ... is one that relates to a driver being installed on your computer that gains RING0 access (the highest level of access to your computer).The installation requires Administrator level access to install the driver, which runs all of the time regardless of whether or not you're playing a game with Starforce DRM.

With such a high level of processor access (sharing the same levels the operating system enjoys), the Starforce driver can do anything to your computer at any time. This very ability is demonstrated, since the Starforce driver will force a reboot (not a shutdown) when it thinks it has discovered suspicious activity related to copying. The reboot occurs instantly, and any and all unsaved data could be lost.

An argument will undoubtedly follow as to the reliability of such a claim, as it came from Futuremark's forums and not Futuremark itself as some sites were originally reporting. But given the sheer number of problems reported by dozens if not hundreds of people, as well as the bizzare behavior of the company's employees, at the very least it's better to be safe than sorry.

A list of StarForce protected games can be found here.

Source: CD Freaks