Sony PS3 was considered the most secure game console In the world. It was first released in Japan on November 11, 2006. The console was originally planned for a global release through November, but the European and rest-of-the-world's release was delayed until March. For nearly 3 year PS3 wasn`t hacked and there was no way to play pirated games on it or run homebrew application. It is a very long time, because for example Xbox 360 (which is the same game console generation as PS3) was hacked just after 3 months (!!!). The PS3 was so secure not because Sony used not popular and expensive BluRay Disc reader, but also that they used 3 different ways to sign code and verify games if they are genuine.
People loved that they can run legally Linux on their consoles, but then Sony released PS3 Slim version in the beginning of 2009 which doesn`t had an option to install linux. And here comes our hero “geohot”. In the end of 2009 he posted on his blog that he is working on custom firmware version for PS3 Slim which would be able to launch linux. On January 26, 2010, Hotz released the exploit to the public which allowed to get some security keys of PS3. This was only available on PS3 Fat, because it needed a linux installed on PS3, but that was a huge step to hack both versions of PS3 as their firmware are nearly the same. George wrote that "Sony may have difficulty patching the exploit". On March 28, 2010, Sony has responded by announcing to release a PlayStation 3 firmware update that removes the linux feature on all consoles.
On April 7 2010, “geohot” had posted a video on the Internet detailing his progress with custom firmware on the machine, and showing a PlayStation 3 running and having the linux installed on firmware 3.21. He had named his custom firmware “3.21OO”, and said it may work on newer Slim models of the console, as the feature was removed altogether with the launch of the newer revision. After that the whole scene waited for the release of his custom firmware, but that never happened. A lot of people were claiming that his video is a fake, and they gave a lot of hatred to “geohot”.
He closed his blog and website for almost a year and he disappeared from the scene. Not long after that some group of hackers from Hong-Kong released a first tool to hack PS3 so it would launch pirated games. People had to buy a USB dongle and plug it to PS3 to enable that. Sony made a lot of firmware updates to remove ability of playing backup games, so people who wanted to play pirated games wasn`t able to play throw the Internet.
Not more than 2 weeks ago “geohot” came back. He wrote that he was able to “jailbreak” the newest PS3 firmware 3.55 without using any extra hardware. Just a week ago he released a software that allows users to run homebrew applications but without option to run backup games. It is worth mentioning that after every post George wrote a sentence “I do not condone piracy”. He also released almost all PS3 root keys. The only key he didn`t released is a key to crack the security of games. He also wrote that after 4 years of being the most secure system, PS3 I now less secure one. If you are interested you can visit his website.
http://geohot.com/old_index.html
Questions:
1. Do you own any of this generation game consoles?
2. If you own a PS3 – did you know that PS3 was already hacked?
3. Do you condone piracy?
1) Yes I've got Xbox 360 although it's covered in dust as I find my PC much better for gaming
ReplyDelete3) No because it's sponging on someone else hard work. But it's also an evidence that if people could steal they would.
I had PS3 for some time, but it turned out that I just don't want to play games anymore. Probably, if me from the past sees me now, he would be very unhappy :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of any console and I don't have any one but my older brother has almost all. I don't know if he knows about fact that PS3 was hacked when he owned one. It seems to me that he don't even care about this, he just plays it.
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote in other topic piracy is piracy - stealing someone's rights to something. It's like asking someone on the street if he agrees with theft.
1. No I don't.
ReplyDeleteBtw. I think that if someone can steal, hack and do other things it simply proves that people who are working on some software, device etc aren't good enough to protect their work correctly.
1. Do you own any of this generation game consoles?
ReplyDeleteI have never owned a console - neither Xbox, nor Sony PS. However after looking on newest racing games, I must say I'm impressed and willing to buy one :)
I don't have an Xbox but if I had it I would like to install linux, so it's cool that there are hackers.
ReplyDelete1. I have both Playstation 3 and x-box 360
ReplyDelete2. I have heard about the hack on Playstation 3
but I know that if you have the hacked console you wont be able to access to the online game features
3. I do not condone priracy simply because I pay what I perceive is worth the value of.
No I don't have any game console.
ReplyDeleteAs I wrote in other presentation - I'm against piracy because it's stealing and we should pay for things which we are using.