GeoHot Sounds Off on Sony's PSN Debacle

[garfoldsomeoneelse]

Look at how shoddily he's dressed that room.
No sense of taste at all.

The colors are certainly garish, but I appreciate the minimalistic aesthetic he's striving for. Some neutral, earthy tones would really help to make the place look less like a dentist's waiting room. I'm thinking beige/forest green for the walls, some dark stained wood trim/molding, and maybe a subdued but noticeable accents of bold color (I'd go with crimson) here and there. No matter how you cut it, though, sea foam green is really only a color for nurses' scrubs or bathrooms, and I'd feel queasy every moment I had to be surrounded by walls and carpet of that color.

 

[BanthaFodder]

God this guy's a douche...
you were using your PS3... TO PIRATE THINGS. YEAH, THAT'S KINDA ILLEGAL.
I can go out and buy a knife meant for cutting vegetables. But if I go and rob a bank with that knife, I'M IN THE WRONG.
How much of a lifeless neckbeard must you be to decide "eh, got nothing better to do with my life, guess I'll try and hack into a PS3 to prove a point or something..."
This guy violated the TOS, he hacked a PS3 so he could pirate things, he encouraged other douchey little hackers to fuck with Sony when he was feeling butthurt, and has the pure balls to think that he's in the right.
I believe it was Albert Einstein who once said, "God, what an asshole..."

 

[Azure-Supernova]

Sony doesn't need to accept anything. It's their console, their rules. If they put in the TOS that they still technically own it and you sign it then it's theirs, unfortunately. I'm all for fighting little crusades but leave the people you're trying to "help" out of it. (to whomever is behind this)

Also, this geohotz guy is a little *****. Yes, Sony totally intentionally gave away all of your person information. Who does he think he is?

See this has always been a problem of mine when people bring up the whole 'Sony own your console' thing. I don't believe they've ever stated that explicitly. They openly allow you to tamper with the hardware you purchased; the only price is that you void your warranty by doing so and fair enough, I agree with that. If they didn't want you fucking with their hardware they're make it impossible to get the thing open or even so much as change the hard drive.

However I don't disagree that they own the firmware; of course they do. But on that note people shouldn't be forced to use their PS3 with official firmware, providing of course that the custom firmware doesn't comprimise the security of the company. You can understand why they're so quick to bring the hammer down on people who do.

 

[F-I-D-O]

THANK YOU for changing the GeoHotz picture.
Oh, and I'm sure that Sony wasn't protecting the

Spoiler: encrypted

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109637-Sony-Assures-Credit-Card-Data-Was-Encrypted
don't know how to do the blue encrypted as the url

data, because had they done that, the results wouldn't be as good as they have been know (such as every user being a victim of identity theft, as opposed to know it being only a theoretical percentage, as far as I know), no, they just gave it away with a password of 4.
If they had that simple of a password, maybe GeoHotz could have hacked it.
And they don't trust the customer. They have lawyers for a reason, beyond just crushing you.

Their password was "1, 2, 3, 4, 5".

Which, funnily enough, is the same password for my luggage.

I'm protected, since mine is twelve thousand, three hundred and forty-five
Wait...

 

[Sentox6]

It's like the gun store owner who sold the gun to a serial killer with no background check is laughing at the police for not stopping a crime with that gun.

Hotz hacked the PS3 not PSN.

He's been spouting this nonsense since the news first broke. Don't waste your time trying to explain the obvious.

Did you even read a damn thing in this article? Hotz said he had no idea how it would be possible to go about hacking the PSN. A local client hack and a database server hack couldn't be any more different. Even if the root key did make it easy for these hackers to do this job, that's again Sony's fault for believing that they were completely safe client-side. You always, always set up multiple layers of security. Especially when it's millions of peoples' personal and credit card information you're dealing with. It's like assigning one guy with a BB gun to guard fort Knox.

Sony's negligence was ultimately to blame here.

Thank you. The mere fact that Sony wasn't hashing user passwords should pretty much negate any confidence in their security systems.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Yes. Post online who you breached security and stole data from millions of people. Genius.

No, wait. Actually, DO do that. That's how Sony tracked down this ass hole, so hopefully they'll be able to track down the hacker(s) that broke the PSN.

 

[ProjectTrinity]

Is it just me or do they intentionally choose pictures of him when he's at his most dickish looking?

Is there even a pic of him where he's not looking like an ass?

Not that I've seen. His coolest pic, one with him actually outside (I think) still makes him look like a giant tool.

 

[Defense]

Am I the only one who thinks he looks like Cristopher Masterson in that picture?

 

[Annulus]

Sony doesn't need to accept anything. It's their console, their rules. If they put in the TOS that they still technically own it and you sign it then it's theirs, unfortunately. I'm all for fighting little crusades but leave the people you're trying to "help" out of it. (to whomever is behind this)

Also, this geohotz guy is a little *****. Yes, Sony totally intentionally gave away all of your person information. Who does he think he is?

You, like sony, Just Don't Get It.

Legally, the console may still somehow be the property of Sony (though I'd like to see that one fly in court), however, the physical system and its software are in the hands of the consumer, which is inevitably going to be a hacker at some point.

Thus from a security point of view, does the console belong to the hacker. To see it otherwise, as Sony seems to, and then to act accordingly, is, as hotz puts it, "insane".

Take it from him; he is a hacker.



As for "giving away" personal information, I know I'd be mad at the bank if they set their vault code to be 12345.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

Can we just get this out of the way by trying to make a statement that pleases everyone? Okay so I'll attempt it first:
Sony is not the devil for letting this happen. They didnt do it themselves, they didnt let it happen intentionally, they arent complete retards as I'm sure that their security was at least serviceable, although obviously not serviceable enough. Their security should have been a lot stronger especially in the face of Anonymous' threats, and even earlier whenever it was proven by Hotz (I refuse to call him GeoHot) that their fortress was not impenetrable. However the lawsuits are ridiculous, when you put information on the internet there's always the risk of it being stolen. Also Sony should have released the information on the security breach way earlier, God knows the risks they caused by holding on to it for even a those few days. Let us not forget though, the dick(s) who stole the information in the first place. He(they) isnt a hero(es), he(they) isnt standing up for anyone's rights, he's(they are) just some sad douche(s) who's skilled at hacking. One last thing; X-box fanboys, Nintendo fanboys and self proclaimed PC gamers, this does not mean that your respective gaming platform is better than the PS3, so please stop gloating on threads related to this subject about how PS3 sucks, X-box/ Wii/ PC rulez or how we should convert as though owning a console or computer is the same as being in a religion.

 

[WanderingFool]

I still want to punch him in his prick face...

 

[Woodsey]

Considering this has all happened so quickly, you can't help but link them all.

Even if he didn't do it, its his behaviour that has quite possibly led to this whole thing by someone else acting on his behalf in retaliation to Sony.

I'm tired of these fuck-faces and their stupid little crusades against companies just because they're big, and I'm even more tired of the people that voice their support for them.

And that smug little prick's face is even more unbearable than Kotick's grin.

And yet you still insist on posting everywhere those things are shown.

Yeah, so?

 

[Braedan]

I'm actually wondering here, did they use hacked PS3's to steal the info (might have missed that post.)? If not, I'm not sure why Geohot's input is relevant.

I'm actually wondering here, did they use hacked PS3's to steal the info (might have missed that post.)? If not, I'm not sure why Geohot's input is relevant.

It isn't. Just someone who doesn't want to let their 15 minutes end and is desperately attempting to remain relevant.

What? What relevance does anyone in this thread have to the topic at hand? About as much as Geohot. Seriously, I'm not understanding either of you, because someone is internet famous they must be relevant to a topic to have an opinion and express it?

Besides not understanding how a comment system works, I think you missed the point. The point was that you don't write a news post when my neighbour has an opinion on the PSN network. Geohot is free to have an opinion, I'm just not sure why the Escapist is paying attention to it.

 

[DragonChi]

Their password was "1, 2, 3, 4, 5".

Which, funnily enough, is the same password for my luggage.

LOL, love it...love it *thumbs up*. Spaceballs kicks ass.

 

[Drakos.Amatras]

I'm actually wondering here, did they use hacked PS3's to steal the info (might have missed that post.)? If not, I'm not sure why Geohot's input is relevant.

Well think of it this way.

The PSN has had no major problems for years. This code comes out for modding and hacking the PS3 and this happens.

The guy is at least partially responsible if not the entire reason why this could've happened through Sony's security.

See my previous post for your quotation for your horrible logic and reasoning.

O.k... so we've had no natural disasters for a while, this guy gets elected, same day, bang hurricane.

Honestly, logic like that can be dangerous, get it checked.

Only to see your analogy or whatever is half-assed and doesn't make sense at all. Try better next time, I will be watching.

...How? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argumentum_ad_lapidem] The reasoning is sound and fair, as he explains here:

GeoHotz didn't go anywhere near the PSN, if rumor is to be believed, he never connected online and signed the updated EULA. He didn't touch the PSN. The two things are unrelated coincidences. Perhaps it was karma for the way Sony treated the community, but Hotz jailbreaking the thing had nothing to do with the PSN getting hacked.

---

I was largely unaware of the situation until recently. I heard the PS3 was successfully hacked after some period, I heard a hacker was nabbed by Sony, and that's about it. But blaming a hacker for a large-scale identity theft he didn't take part in doesn't sound fair. And didn't he hack the console, and got nabbed for that afterwards? I don't suppose a person in that situation would even think of continuing on to PSN, whether he wants to or not.

Also, has any reliable source confirmed if the source code he released could be used to hack the PSN at all? I'd imagine it's pretty vital to know when it's related to an event this big. At least that might give a (relatively) clearer picture of the situation, as opposed to jumping the finger-pointing bandwagon [http://fallacyfiles.org/bandwagn.html]. (Personally, though, I'm only mad at the thieves who actually went through with the theft.)

 

[Gutkrusha]

I'm hoping he gets hit by a bus.

What? This guy has absolutely no reason to speak on this, and is only doing so because he knows Sony cant do anything about it. I seriously hope he gets hit by a bus and the 360 gets broken into too, just so that we can see the fallout from 360 users.

Many 360s themselves have been hacked and broken into, but Microsoft protects xbox live a lot harder and better than Sony does with PSN. When someone actually pays for something, (Xbox live) They're entitled to refunds and the like. Microsoft doesn't like losing money, so they spend a lot of time keeping XBL fairly secure.

 

[WonderWillard]

Mostly off topic, but that guy looks like the crazy guy from an episode of Chuck... His name is lazlo? I think. He pretends to be a brilliant but innocent guy like chuck, but turns out to be a pyscho that almost blows up a boardwalk in LA? Anyone know what I'm talking about?

 

[bpm195]

Like it or not, GeoHot has proven himself to be as much an expert on the PS3 as anybody else, and if his assertions are correct Sony committed a major party foul. One of the things about information security is that everything is a potential threat and you have to protect yourself. If Sony decided not to treat clients as a potential threat then they didn't do enough to mitigate their damages. This isn't to say that they deserved it, but they were negligent in their approach to security.

Think of it like this, if you give a person all of your personal information there's an unpreventable chance of them being robbed, however you'd expect them to at least keep the door locked and not let strangers walk around unsupervised.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

The fact he crawled out of the woodwork to say "Not It" says something about him.....guilty I bet...

 

[zaphod121]

If you flip you PS3 upside down and read the bottom it states that no one is allowed to mess with the software on the system unless they have permission. That fag needs to go and learn how to read. And I DON'T GIVE NO FUCK ABOUT MY GRAMMAR OR SPELLING SO FUCK OFF!!!!!!

and the law says that you have every right to mess with the software inside, publishing that info on the other hand is a bit more murky, but clearly by the tone of your post your a reasonable person who understands that right? I always love to see 1)People just resort to name calling because they have no argument 2)Place blame on "celebs" who are related to the situation but have no actual involvement in whats happening now. OH btw caps lock is cruise control for cool, use em' more, people will take you more seriously.

When the PS3 first came out they advertised that you could put different OS's on it. It even talked about it in the instructions. Multiple government agencies bought PS3's over the years just so they could change the OS to run their specific programs. This all changed with the Jailbreak update.