PS3 - Keys for signed binaries found, custom firmware released

[kedawa]

It's not really a root kit since it's a feature of the official firmware, but it's still very sneaky and invasive. If they had stuck with a traditional console life cycle, they wouldn't be having this problem. Well, unless the PS4 used the same flawed encryption routine, that is.

[Emuaust]

It's not really a root kit since it's a feature of the official firmware, but it's still very sneaky and invasive. If they had stuck with a traditional console life cycle, they wouldn't be having this problem. Well, unless the PS4 used the same flawed encryption routine, that is.

Stuck with a traditional console life cycle?

[The 1 2 P]

Ok this is just plain wrong (http://www.cheatcc.com/ccc_newsserver/Article.aspx?PostID=378066). Hackers have apparently found a way to not only unban their accounts but to have other players accounts get banned while using them as a scapgoat.

Sony is losing this war badly so I think they need to do the unthinkable: instead of legally going after these hackers they need to hire them. That way they can find out how they broke thru all of their security protocols. Then once they correct the problems they can fire them.

[TonyTheTiger]

It's crazy that Sony could be that incompetent. A loophole allowing users to unban their machines is one thing. But a loophole that allows them to ban others? That's...beyond belief.

I'm guessing the wave of bans on innocent machines is to attack Sony by way of a PR nightmare. If you ban a bunch of innocent people then Sony has to unban everybody to avoid a shitstorm.

But of course that's a high risk and unethical operation. It's the hacking equivalent of attacking your own people so that you can blame it on the enemy. Sony could unban everybody. Or they could come up with an intrusive, time consuming, and annoying method of getting your machine unbanned through official channels if you happen to be an innocent user. Which sounds like the more likely scenario?

But at this rate I'm starting to think Sony itself is going to get banned from PSN.

[smallfish]

It's really hard to say where this could go. Really, it should be protected under the phone jailbreaking court results.

[PapaStu]

It's crazy that Sony could be that incompetent. A loophole allowing users to unban their machines is one thing. But a loophole that allows them to ban others? That's...beyond belief.

I'm guessing the wave of bans on innocent machines is to attack Sony by way of a PR nightmare. If you ban a bunch of innocent people then Sony has to unban everybody to avoid a shitstorm.

But of course that's a high risk and unethical operation. It's the hacking equivalent of attacking your own people so that you can blame it on the enemy. Sony could unban everybody. Or they could come up with an intrusive, time consuming, and annoying method of getting your machine unbanned through official channels if you happen to be an innocent user. Which sounds like the more likely scenario?

But at this rate I'm starting to think Sony itself is going to get banned from PSN.

Hackers arn't banning others. They are masking their online profiles with others, so when Sony is scanning systems/whatever they are doing to track jailbroken units, they are banning other tags that are being shadowed by the baddies.

Scary stuff either way. Making me glad I don't do any online with my PS3, and makes me not sad that I do little at all w/ my PS3.

[TonyTheTiger]

Either way, Sony has to respond. They can't just leave it like this when there's not just a possibility but an outright likelihood that waves of bans will not only catch innocent users but possibly brand new consoles still on store shelves.

There are only three options I can think of right now.

1) Sony unbans everybody and eats it.
2) Sony devises a new, more secure way to identify compromised machines.
3) Sony continues using this method but creates a (most likely annoying) means of getting unbanned.

#1 isn't going to happen. So if there's no #2 scenario then there are going to be lots of frustrated people making phone calls to the Sony equivalent of 1-800-4MY-XBOX.

[NayusDante]

I think that a firmware update to revamp PSN's security handshakes would be likely. They just have to rewrite all PSN communication protocols and add more layers of encryption that don't take place on the console itself. I can guarantee that they'll do something to re-secure PSN, and possibly even separate the PS store from the banned services so banned consoles can still generate revenue.

Technically, Sony isn't required to provide PSN access to anybody. There's always references in a EULA about "termination of services at the provider's discretion." By agreeing to the EULA, you are giving them permission to terminate the service entirely without legal backlash. It's unlikely, but there's the possibility that they just do nothing for undeserved bans.

In other news, George has begun accepting donations. He's updated his site (http://geohot.com/) a bit with some interesting information, but I think that he's describing the issue from a skewed perspective. He seems to describe it as him being sued for hacking a device that he owns, when I thought the heart of the matter was distribution of what could be described as trade secrets.

[TonyTheTiger]

Technically, Sony isn't required to provide PSN access to anybody. There's always references in a EULA about "termination of services at the provider's discretion." By agreeing to the EULA, you are giving them permission to terminate the service entirely without legal backlash. It's unlikely, but there's the possibility that they just do nothing for undeserved bans.

Well, yeah, it's true they don't have any obligation but talk about bad business. It'd be straight up crazy to allow news stories to spread in which people claim their brand new PS3 is banned and Sony's response is "tough shit." I don't necessarily doubt the possibility but we might be talking more damage to the Playstation brand than any custom firmware would have caused.

[kedawa]

They need some sort of unbanning process, where they would let you connect your machine to PSN and have Sony verify that it isn't compromised. It would get the falsely banned systems back online and probably give the people with hacked systems a way to go legit and get back on PSN, which is what they really should be aiming for rather than just telling them to GTFO.

[NayusDante]

Can it get any worse? (http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/sony_gets_access_ip_addresses_visitors_geohots_sit e)

[kedawa]

I'm fairly indifferent when it comes to the technical battles between hardware manufacturers and hackers, but abusing the law like this really makes me want Sony to go down in flames.

[MASTERWEEDO]

thats crazy, i dont think the courts have the authority to grant such access

[kupomogli]

Oh wow. Sony wants to protect their service and to gain evidence in how many downloads were done in order to prosecute for potential damage. Who wouldn't? So it's breaking the law getting the ip addresses of anyone who downloaded the code to install jailbreak to their PS3 to allow the use of illegal content? Not very, especially considering that a judge approved of it before hand.

This is just like the Linux operating system. Most people didn't even use it but still bitched about losing the absolutely useless OS when running on the PS3. Now people want to bitch about something that isn't even going to affect them unless they've hacked their PS3.

I can't hack my PS3 as I don't want to lose PSN. It's unfortunate because I'd have liked to. But I'm not going to cry that Sony is trying to do whatever they can to not to lose millions of dollars due to piracy now becoming rampant on the PS3. Just like what happened on the 360 and Wii.

[NayusDante]

From what I can see, this action is specifically to prove that users in California downloaded the file, specifically so they can secure their preferred jurisdiction. Since they just sent jailbroken users friendly emails about securing their future usage rights to PSN, I don't think they're quite intent on suing every single person who came into contact with the jailbreak.

I want to see Sony put someone on PR duty for this. Seriously, if Sony wants to reassure their customers, they need to explain the issue to the public, rather than leaving us to piece it together from news reports. As it stands, they just seem silent and vengeful.

[NoahsMyBro]

Oh wow. Sony wants to protect their service and to gain evidence in how many downloads were done in order to prosecute for potential damage. Who wouldn't? So it's breaking the law getting the ip addresses of anyone who downloaded the code to install jailbreak to their PS3 to allow the use of illegal content? Not very, especially considering that a judge approved of it before hand.


I'd think this *is* illegal, regardless of Sony's motivations. It seems to me to be a clear violation of privacy.

By your logic it would be OK for ADT Burglar Alarm company to subpoena all of the records from the marketing department of Smith & Wesson, detailing the contact info of every person that contacted them for information about their guns, because that person MIGHT buy a gun, and then MIGHT use it in a home invasion, against a potential ADT customer.

It certainly isn't guaranteed that visitors to the site downloaded the code, it isn't guaranteed downloaders of the software used it to jailbreak the PS3, and it isn't guaranteed that people that jailbreaked (jailbroke?) their PS3 then used it to download illegal content.

[c0ldb33r]

It certainly isn't guaranteed that visitors to the site downloaded the code, it isn't guaranteed downloaders of the software used it to jailbreak the PS3, and it isn't guaranteed that people that jailbreaked (jailbroke?) their PS3 then used it to download illegal content.
agreed

[JSoup]

It certainly isn't guaranteed that visitors to the site downloaded the code, it isn't guaranteed downloaders of the software used it to jailbreak the PS3, and it isn't guaranteed that people that jailbreaked (jailbroke?) their PS3 then used it to download illegal content.

It's probably a safe bet than anyone who downloaded the code had the intention of downloading illegal crap, seeing as that was the sole function of the hack. It's not like the Wii, which has a bazillion other things that it can do after being hacked.

[NayusDante]

It's probably a safe bet than anyone who downloaded the code had the intention of downloading illegal crap, seeing as that was the sole function of the hack. It's not like the Wii, which has a bazillion other things that it can do after being hacked.

...what?



You know what, I had a lengthy paragraph I was going to post here, but I'd rather not feed the troll.

[MASTERWEEDO]

I thin somepeople dl'ed the hack to re-enable the Other OS function that they were using.

[kupomogli]

I thin somepeople dl'ed the hack to re-enable the Other OS function that they were using.

You mean a whole two people? Because everyone who has used the Other OS function is fully aware of how pathetic it is.

[JSoup]

...what?



You know what, I had a lengthy paragraph I was going to post here, but I'd rather not feed the troll.

Cute, you chose not to feed the troll by trolling. If you have something to say, say it, no reason to be a child.

Wasn't trolling, btw. The only function of the hack was enabling Other OS and installing games. If someone chose to use it, it's not a very large leap of logic as to what the intended use (out of two uses) was.

[Oobgarm]

It's probably a safe bet than anyone who downloaded the code had the intention of downloading illegal crap, seeing as that was the sole function of the hack. It's not like the Wii, which has a bazillion other things that it can do after being hacked.

I'd be willing to bet that there will be other things besides piracy that the PS3 will be able to do once more people get involved with the scene.

With the relative ease of Wii piracy, you can't tell me that people don't hack them for that purpose, completely unaware of these bazillion other things you speak of.

[NayusDante]

Wasn't trolling, btw. The only function of the hack was enabling Other OS and installing games.

This is closer to the truth. What you said before was blatantly calling any enthusiast a pirate. You're still leaving out the possibility of original homebrew game development, and porting legitimate software. I'd love to run Quake on my PS3 at 1080p, but now I won't be able to.

[JSoup]

I'd be willing to bet that there will be other things besides piracy that the PS3 will be able to do once more people get involved with the scene.

Oh, definitely. I've read that some hackers are looking to use the PS3 to produce an actually working Saturn emulator amongst other interesting things.


With the relative ease of Wii piracy, you can't tell me that people don't hack them for that purpose, completely unaware of these bazillion other things you speak of.

I never said there wasn't potential for more or that people wouldn't be interested in that potential. But it's certainly a safe bet as to what the grand majority is doing with the current hack available.


This is closer to the truth. What you said before was blatantly calling any enthusiast a pirate. You're still leaving out the possibility of original homebrew game development, and porting legitimate software.

I very clearly pointed out that piracy is CURRENTLY the sole function of the hack.

[kedawa]

Most of the people I know that have hacked PS3s are more interested in emulation than piracy. Not one of them has used the OtherOS function.

[JSoup]

Most of the people I know that have hacked PS3s are more interested in emulation than piracy.

Functionally, the difference between these two things are zero, but I take your point.

[Oobgarm]

Geohot and Sony settle out of court.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/11/sony-and-playstation-3-jailbreaker-george-hotz-settle-out-of-cou/

[NayusDante]

Basically, all we know at this point is that it's been settled. The details are what's important and we'll supposedly get those eventually. Nobody can really say for certain who "won."

Meanwhile, every Sony fanboy as well as every anti-Sony activist is pointing fingers and having a shouting contest. Pick your favorite news site and read the comment section rants.