Latest PS3 hack hits Sony with massive migraine
Master key leaked, pirates rejoice
News that the PlayStation 3 has been jailbroken, again, is hardly a shocker. However, the latest hack makes Sony's battle against piracy a very tricky task, experts claim.
While fresh custom firmware hit the web earlier this week, it's the leak of the so-called LV0 decryption keys which leaves Sony with a serious headache.
The availability of the keys essentially makes the regular process of changing the PSN passphrase futile and means any system update the company pushes to our consoles can be decrypted with ease, including its latest firmware, version 4.30.
Every PS3 needs the ability to decrypt firmware in order for the console to update. As the LV0 key allows that to be achieved on a PC, the CoreOS and XMB files can be re-encrypted for the existing 3.55 firmware and will thus run on hacked consoles, Eurogamer reports.
The group which discovered the so-called master key - which labels itself "The Three Musketeers" - kept details of the jailbreak secret. Until, that is, their system was accessed by Chinese hack-team "BlueDiskCFW", which planned to use the code to pump out new custom firmware at a price.
The Musketeers hit back and released the LV0 key to prevent anyone cashing in on their work. A free firmware update soon followed.
"Only the fear of our work being used by others to make money out of it has forced us to release this now," says the hacker group, in an apparent bid to distance itself from the moral implications of releasing pirate-friendly software.
Either way, gaming pirates will hit the grog in celebration while Sony considers a complete system overhaul - or admits defeat in its war against game rips. ®
COMMENTS
Re: You mad bro?
>know more about global industry than Sony.
Now 1/5 the size of their hey day which I remember quite clearly as even my kids aren't on their first jobs. Those of us old to remember when the Sony brand was gold for the customer are the ones saddest to see that their hardware has even fell behind the me too Koreans.
Couldn't Happen To A Nicer Company
What goes around comes around Sony, putting rootkits on peoples PCs and then foisting Cinavia on PS3 users. Add that to a whole bunch of crap that you throw at your VAIO users you had it coming.
Re: Couldn't Happen To A Nicer Company
The rootkit affected far more than 'pirates'. Among those affected were:
1 plain ordinary users. Many people went out and purchased the 'protected' discs and installed them... and then found that there were problems with some CD players (especially in cars) and, worse, that they'd installed a rootkit on their computer which _they_ didn't know about, but which many, many, MANY malware makers _did_. This meant that people other than Sony figured out how to use Sony's rootkit to screw with ordinary users' machines. And they did.
2 the artists whose albums were afflicted with the rootkit 'protection' took a pasting. One memorable review of a certain artist's 'protected' album went "This is the finest work <name redacted> has produced in the last 20 years. Don't buy it." The review went on to say _why_, and every word was a condemnation of the DRM. Several artists complained to Sony that they'd lost a mint because of the rootkit on their albums, and, worse, now their names were associated with evil malware-inducing, CD-player breaking, code, and even their _new_ albums, most of which didn't have DRM, were suffering a severe drop-off in sales.
3 Sony itself. The bad publicity dropped sales for Sony music and videos, even non-DRMed examples. It also caused a lot of people to simply boycott Sony products in general, even hardware. Sony took a _significant_ hit to its reputation (which has never recovered) and to its bottom line.
> If you built it, they will steal it and try to make a profit!
Yeah but Sony goes out of its way to make itself a target being by far the biggest DRM (most DRM schemes invented by Sony) peddler in the world. Going after geohot, installing rootkits, taunting anonymous with such a poorly secured network exposing their customers info to the world is not a way to build up goodwill with customers so they want to buy your stuff instead of steal it. Sony is still pretty arrogant and still thinks of its customers as walking wallets and thieves first. Might be why they have lost billions for the last five years straight. Japanese hardware companies in general tend to think you are only leasing the hardware you buy (Nintendo fights against fair use law in the US which is the law of the land). The fact is it is your hardware and you have the right to run any code you are legally authorized to run on YOUR hardware.
You mad bro?
I agree with you, I really do. But I don't believe the majority of uses for hacked firmware are for creating PS3 arrays to do scientific research. Sony aren't what I'd call "nice" but then I can't think of any other multi national company I'd use that adjective for either. I do think they have a right to protect their business interests.
