GeoHot Sounds Off on Sony's PSN Debacle

[Arachon]

I don't care that Geohotz put Linux on his system, I care that he put the code on the internet and gave which allowed people to play pirated games on their ps3. I'm pretty sure that's the part that pissed Sony off the most. Still if Geohotz hadn't put that code on the internet than none of this would have happened.

Explain how the jailbreaking of the PS3 console, has lead to the breach of a network that is fully hosted on Sony's corporate servers?

 

[The Wooster]

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

I don't know. I prefer very little clutter in my room.

I agree with the lack of clutter, but look at how the yellow clashes with the muted colours of the walls and floor. As for the floor, it looks like a fitted carpet, which is a big no-no.
Furthermore, the furniture is of wholly disparate styles, and again, the colour-schemes are all off.

I ask you, is it too much to ask for some consistency and deliberation?

This just made my day. Congratulations good sir.

 

[TheRealCJ]

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 seriously doubt that this debacle would've happened if Sony hadn't painted a big bullseye on their arses and stood around shouting "All hackers are fags lol!".

Look at the iPhone. Apple repeatedly breaks the ability to jailbreak the thing with every major update. I think the record is 12 hours to get a working jailbreak after a "security update". But Apple aren't really being dicks about it, so the jailbreakers are treating it like a cat/mouse game.

But Sony ARE being dicks about it by bringing out the lawyers, so the hackers are treating it like war.

I'm not saying the hackers are in the right. But this was an easily mitigateable circumstance.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

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.

You know, you're the second person I've seen spouting this nonsense, and I'd like to set you straight. It has absolutely nothing to do with childish notions of "sticking it to the man" and everything to do with consumers standing up and taking back the rights that companies have been getting a free pass on violating lately, and when they haven't been violated yet, preventing the violation from happening in the first place. Regardless of what the TOS says, if I buy something, it's mine, and as the owner, I have certain rights. End of discussion.

I don't care that Geohotz put Linux on his system, I care that he put the code on the internet and gave which allowed people to play pirated games on their ps3. I'm pretty sure that's the part that pissed Sony off the most. Still if Geohotz hadn't put that code on the internet than none of this would have happened.

You do realize that code is what allowed him to get Linux back, right? All it is is the master code which the PS3 checks for to make sure that it's allowed to run whatever program asks to run. The hacks for the Wii and the 360 allow the system to run unsigned code; what this does is sign it, skipping that step entirely.

 

[rainbowunicorns]

they arent complete retards as I'm sure that their security was at least serviceable, although obviously not serviceable enough.

Hashing passwords is a basic security measure that wasn't undertaken, which would indicate that the security was not serviceable. If you don't know what such an algorithm is, I suggest reading up on them; there are many options, and the designers have gone into excruciating detail so that anyone who can program can implement the design.

 

[Le_Lisra]

I've never been more happy being too poor for a console. Or to cheap, depending on the month. ^^

 

[MajorDolphin]

The Big Pokey is waiting....

 

[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.

You know, you're the second person I've seen spouting this nonsense, and I'd like to set you straight. It has absolutely nothing to do with childish notions of "sticking it to the man" and everything to do with consumers standing up and taking back the rights that companies have been getting a free pass on violating lately, and when they haven't been violated yet, preventing the violation from happening in the first place. Regardless of what the TOS says, if I buy something, it's mine, and as the owner, I have certain rights. End of discussion.

Actually, its not "fuck the TOS". The TOS is an agreement that you make when you buy it. If you don't agree, you don't buy it. Pretty fucking clear.

Sony have hardly put anyone's cock in a vice. The reason they close their systems off is because they don't want people to be able to pirate stuff which, funnily enough, started happening after this guy made pirating an option for everyone.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

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.

I have no knowledge on the subject, but the PSN runs (relatively) smoothly for years then GeoHot posts the rootkey. Weeks later the PSN is hacked. Could just be a coincidence, but it looks fishy. And yes, I have the urge to punch him in his smug fucking face.

 

[Drakos.Amatras]

What? This guy has absolutely no reason to speak on this,

Considering how a lot of people were mis-blaming him in a frenzy (not helped by the fact that not a lot of them has a firm grasp of the situation), it's more than reasonable for him to clear things up on his side. And from what I read on the case, he was involved in the hardware hack, but not the online service systems. Which leads me to:

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.

Yes. In an online age, it's becoming more and more vital for any online service to safeguard the user accounts and information, especially so for a service like PSN which also deals in business with real currency. And even more so if they intend to keep this up for years to come. Sony demanded private information on GeoHotz, have his Paypal account blocked, and even people who just happened to visit his website (presumably in the name of 'law & justice'); they themselves treat their users' info with insufficient respect. If I may assume from this, they probably have no respect for anybody's private info at all.

Spoiler: Wikipedia

Unencrypted personal details

Credit card data was encrypted, but Sony admitted that user information was not encrypted at the time of the intrusion. The Daily Telegraph reported that "If the provider stores passwords unencrypted, then it's very easy for somebody else - not just an external attacker, but members of staff or contractors working on Sony's site ? to get access and discover those passwords, potentially using them for nefarious means."

There goes my 3 accounts: US, Europe & Japan, all using the same password. Not very impressive, if you ask me.

Popular as it is to hate GeoHotz right now, I don't think a good part of these people have a solid idea aside from the fact that he's a "bad hacker who breaks various laws". He's not the first console hacker, and won't be the last; the attentions just happened to make him a target. Just a reminder: Law =/= Truth/Morality [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_law]. Which reminds me:

Spoiler: Wikipedia

Legal action against Sony

A lawsuit was posted on 27 April 2011, by Kristopher Johns from Birmingham, Alabama on behalf of all PlayStation users alleging Sony "failed to encrypt data and establish adequate firewalls to handle a server intrusion contingency, failed to provide prompt and adequate warnings of security breaches, and unreasonably delayed in bringing the PSN service back online." According to the complaint filed in the lawsuit, Sony has failed to notify members of a possible security breach and storing member's credit card information, a violation of PCI Compliance ? the digital security standard for the Payment Card Industry.

 

[The-Epicly-Named-Man]

they arent complete retards as I'm sure that their security was at least serviceable, although obviously not serviceable enough.

Hashing passwords is a basic security measure that wasn't undertaken, which would indicate that the security was not serviceable. If you don't know what such an algorithm is, I suggest reading up on them; there are many options, and the designers have gone into excruciating detail so that anyone who can program can implement the design.

I'm always called out on something. Anyway the point still stands that the hacker(s) is the person who stole the details, not Sony, but that they should have had way stronger security.

 

[geizr]

What a dick.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

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.

You know, you're the second person I've seen spouting this nonsense, and I'd like to set you straight. It has absolutely nothing to do with childish notions of "sticking it to the man" and everything to do with consumers standing up and taking back the rights that companies have been getting a free pass on violating lately, and when they haven't been violated yet, preventing the violation from happening in the first place. Regardless of what the TOS says, if I buy something, it's mine, and as the owner, I have certain rights. End of discussion.

Actually, its not "fuck the TOS". The TOS is an agreement that you make when you buy it. If you don't agree, you don't buy it. Pretty fucking clear.

Sony have hardly put anyone's cock in a vice. The reason they close their systems off is because they don't want people to be able to pirate stuff which, funnily enough, started happening after this guy made pirating an option for everyone.

Dude, the TOS is a piece of paper which means nothing. I would explain why, but there's a very nice post on page two that explains it. I'm speaking legally here, not "I don't like it, so it's invalid."

 

[Arachon]

I seriously doubt that this debacle would've happened if Sony hadn't painted a big bullseye on their arses and stood around shouting "All hackers are fags lol!".

Look at the iPhone. Apple repeatedly breaks the ability to jailbreak the thing with every major update. I think the record is 12 hours to get a working jailbreak after a "security update". But Apple aren't really being dicks about it, so the jailbreakers are treating it like a cat/mouse game.

But Sony ARE being dicks about it by bringing out the lawyers, so the hackers are treating it like war.

I'm not saying the hackers are in the right. But this was an easily mitigateable circumstance.

While you do bring up a point, I'd wager that this hack was perpetuated by a serious criminal group (what the media likes to call "Cyber-Criminals", cringe-worthy I know) rather than your stereotypical Hacker (i.e. "Greyhat" Hacker).

 

[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.

You know, you're the second person I've seen spouting this nonsense, and I'd like to set you straight. It has absolutely nothing to do with childish notions of "sticking it to the man" and everything to do with consumers standing up and taking back the rights that companies have been getting a free pass on violating lately, and when they haven't been violated yet, preventing the violation from happening in the first place. Regardless of what the TOS says, if I buy something, it's mine, and as the owner, I have certain rights. End of discussion.

Actually, its not "fuck the TOS". The TOS is an agreement that you make when you buy it. If you don't agree, you don't buy it. Pretty fucking clear.

Sony have hardly put anyone's cock in a vice. The reason they close their systems off is because they don't want people to be able to pirate stuff which, funnily enough, started happening after this guy made pirating an option for everyone.

Dude, the TOS is a piece of paper which means nothing. I would explain why, but there's a very nice post on page two that explains it. I'm speaking legally here, not "I don't like it, so it's invalid."

Even if that's true, its still their product. You own one, yes, but if you poking your dick in it gives you the chance to steal games and cause them to lose money that is rightfully theirs, then they have every right to glue up the points of entry.

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

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.

No, it's more like if a guy found a way to legally alter an airgun he already bought so that it would shoot through styrofoam and then the company that manufactures the guns got angry when some people used modded guns to shoot through the styrofoam walls of their banking division and make off with all of their clients' safety deposit boxes.

 

[Ironic Pirate]

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.

No, I understand how a comment system works. I just thought it was kind of funny to complain about someone's relevance to a topic when they were arguably significantly more related to it.

Also, I must confess to having misread your post. I was thinking you were saying that Geohot shouldn't be going on about something he isn't related to, rather than questioning the Escapist's decision to make it a news post. That was my bad, although you must admit the other guy certainly sounds like he's complaining about Geohot having an opinion.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

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.

You know, you're the second person I've seen spouting this nonsense, and I'd like to set you straight. It has absolutely nothing to do with childish notions of "sticking it to the man" and everything to do with consumers standing up and taking back the rights that companies have been getting a free pass on violating lately, and when they haven't been violated yet, preventing the violation from happening in the first place. Regardless of what the TOS says, if I buy something, it's mine, and as the owner, I have certain rights. End of discussion.

Actually, its not "fuck the TOS". The TOS is an agreement that you make when you buy it. If you don't agree, you don't buy it. Pretty fucking clear.

Sony have hardly put anyone's cock in a vice. The reason they close their systems off is because they don't want people to be able to pirate stuff which, funnily enough, started happening after this guy made pirating an option for everyone.

Dude, the TOS is a piece of paper which means nothing. I would explain why, but there's a very nice post on page two that explains it. I'm speaking legally here, not "I don't like it, so it's invalid."

Even if that's true, its still their product. You own one, yes, but if you poking your dick in it gives you the chance to steal games and cause them to lose money that is rightfully theirs, then they have every right to glue up the points of entry.

First of all, they did glue up the points of entry; they just used a crappy glue, which consumers were within their rights to remove. Second, piracy is an unfortunate side effect of enabling homebrew, which is flipping awesome, completely legal, and because it is a primary legal use for the hack, cannot be stopped just because people can use the same techniques to enable piracy. People are way too quick to give up their rights whenever someone uses that magic word.

Edit: This is my 1,942nd post. I love post counts that match up to important years in history

 

[RollForInitiative]

I feel like I'm the only person that's putting the blame on, oh, I dunno, maybe the guy that committed the crime? Security breach wouldn't matter if there wasn't some fuckwit that wanted to exploit it, now would it?

So I'll save my disgust for the person that breached the wall, not the people that owned the wall.

 

[Labcoat Samurai]

I'm hoping he gets hit by a bus.

mmmkay...

What? This guy has absolutely no reason to speak on this,

Do you? He's a person, and a playstation owner. Whether the Escapist reports what he says or not is their business, but he has every right and reason to speak.

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.

This may be hard for you to understand, but some of us don't give a shit about your petty console war. I own a PS3 and an Xbox360, and I just don't want my personal information compromised by shitty security. I don't wish it on PS3 owners, I don't wish it on Xbox360 owners, and I don't wish it on anyone else. I don't even wish it on you, despite your trollishness.