The PlayStation 3 has been hacked before, originally with the PSJailbreak dongle and fail0verflow, but Sony managed to fight back with Firmware 3.60 which managed to ingeniously resecure the console. Now, however, the PS3’s LV0 keys have been released, which allegedly means that no matter what Sony puts in its next firmware upgrade, hacking it will be very easy, similar to how it was on the PSP. This means that switching to CFW will be far simpler, something that primarily leads to piracy.
A group known as The Three Musketeers claim to have been the ones to have discovered the keys, but apparently weren’t planning to release them. Somehow, however, the keys leaked and were used by a Chinese hacking group to release BlueDiskCFW – which they charged for (this has since been hacked as well). The Three Musketeers, angry at someone trying to profit off of their work, then released the keys publicly, leading to a CFW anyone can download. The group detailed their announcement in a statement (nb: edited to remove keys):
As this was a group effort, we wouldn’t normally have lost a word about it ever, but as we’re done with PS3 now anyways, we think it doesn’t matter anymore. Congratulations to the guy that leaked stuff, you, sir, are a 1337 haxx0r, jk, you’re an asshole.
People should know that crooked personalities are widespread in this so called ‘scene’. Some people try to achieve something for fun together and make the wrong decision to trust others and share their results with them, but ofc there got to be the attention seeking fame wh*** that has to leak stuff to feel a little bit better about him-/herself. Now the catch is that it works like this in every ‘scene’, just that in others it usually doesn’t come to light.The only sad thing is, that the others who worked on this won’t get the attention they deserve because they probably want to remain anonymous (also they don’t care about E-fame <3).
PS: This is neither about drama nor E-fame nor ‘OMG WE HAZ BEEN FIRST’, we just thought you should know that we’re disappointed in certain people. You can be sure that if it wouldn’t have been for this leak, this key would never have seen the light of day, only the fear of our work being used by others to make money out of it has forced us to release this now.
– The Three Musketeers
Sony has yet to comment on the hack – and likely won’t – but do you think that this could lead to a surge in piracy on the beloved black box? Let us know in the comments below.
Essential Reading:
Daily Reaction: The PS3 Hack – The Ethics, The Impact (Guest Starring KaKaRoTo)
Who Owns Your PS3? KaKaRoTo Talks Modifying The PS3′s Firmware, Piracy and DRM
Industry Figures Weigh In On PS3 Hacker Debacle
Hacking the Vita: Yifan Lu Talks Homebrew, Security and why Games Still can’t be Pirated
