PlayStation update couples console to cloud and disconnects hackers
But for how long?
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Sony has released a PlayStation firmware update today which not only gives customers cloud space, but attempts to plug all penetrable gaps and make hackers rethink their approach.
Firmware 3.60 adds the cloud-based service for PS Plus subscribers that we mentioned last month. Those who pay subscription fees are now able to save game data online, so it can be easily accessed on other consoles.
The update also sees users given the option to set how long their control pads stay active when not being used. It's about time.
The biggest news of all however, at least for those with an interest in the PS3 hacking saga, is that the latest update makes it harder for anyone to gain unofficial access.
The creator of the PS3 jailbreak 'PSFreedom' reckons although the console may still be susceptible to attack, anyone doing so will have to start from square one.
Youness Alaoui (KaKaRoToKS) claimed "previous errors were epic fails.. [but] they seem to have fixed all the issues they had."
Speaking through his Twitter page, Alaoui said: "It looks to me (at first glance) that the ps3 has been resecured, but it doesn't mean it can't be broken again from scratch."
While he went on to enforce the fact he is not prepared to do hack it himself, someone out there probably is. Remember, the last PS3 update was hacked within 24 hours. Get your predictions in now. ®
COMMENTS
Errrm
How many things can you get wrong in a single article?
1/ previous errors were epic fails..
Not really, a console that took over 4 years to crack. I think Nintendo 3DS which was cracked the moment it was releases is rather more "epic" than that.
2/ PS+ is WAY more than cloud storage. Your £40 a year (or 15 months currently) gets you several hundreds of quid worth of free games, PSN, PS1 and Minis, along with Themes and Avatars etc, you also get a overnight update downloader/installer, so never have to wait for game updates again, you also get the play the latest betas, and some nice discount on full titles.
3/ The last update was NOT hacked in less than 24 hours. Anyone that applied the 3.56 update can no longer jailbreak it and any previous signing keys are now also blacklisted. If you ever installed a jailbreak or custom firmware, you will have also been contacted by Sony. and there are now titles coming in that require 3.56 firmware. So unless you want to play old games off-line you HAVE to get the latest firmware.
It looks like Sony is in hot water again.
Looking at PS3hax.net this morning, it appears that OtherOS was removed for financial reasons - namely, IBM was not happy that the US military was using clustered PS3s, rather than massively more expensive IBM Cell blade servers, to do the job of number-crunching.
So, it wasn't because of piracy or hacking fears, after all.
This implies collusion on a massive scale, and I would not be surprised if the US military sued Sony and removed IBM from its preferred supplier list. If I were in charge of IT there, I would be understandably livid at the prospect that manufacturers had colluded to hurt my choice of hardware.
Imagine if NVidia conspired with Intel to remove CUDA from its processors, because Intel wasn't happy that scientific bods were using massive arrays of CUDA-enabled GPUs to perform simulations, instead of shiny new Intel processors?
no-one that updated to 3.56 is
willing to admit that they've hacked it because they don't want to associate with lawyers, perhaps?
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