Notorious iPhone Hacker Posts PS3 Master Key Online

[thecoreyhlltt]

Notorious iPhone Hacker Posts PS3 Master Key Online

Hacker dumps a security nightmare into Sony's lap, then uses the opportunity to try to find himself employment.

George "GeoHot" Hotz, who gained notoriety for his iPhone jailbreaks as well as his PS3 jailbreak [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/97780-iPhone-Jailbreaker-Hacks-PS3] from early last year, has posted what he claims to be the PS3's root key on his website. This key will give people the ability to sign their own homebrew software and have the PS3 think that it's genuine.

In a very short post, Hotz thanked the fail0verflow hacker team, who gave a presentation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106511-Hacker-Group-Gives-Video-Tour-of-PS3-Security-System] about the PS3's security system just last week, for their assistance with the asymmetric part of the key. As proof that the key was genuine, he offered a "Hello World" program, a common exercise when you're starting out writing code, and thanked the people behind the open-source PS3 hombrew SDK, PSLight, who had made it possible for him to release it.

It's believed, although not confirmed, that Sony will have trouble changing this key without rendering a lot of PS3 software inoperable. If this is true, then there may be nothing that Sony can do to prevent people running their own homebrew software, or playing pirated games. Hotz made it clear that he didn't condone piracy, however, and hoped that people would use the key responsibly. He also offered his services to Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft in making their next consoles secure, saying that it would be interesting to be on the other side of the fence.

Of course, the problem is that while Hotz might not condone piracy, there are plenty of others out there who have absolutely no problems with it at all. I don't know whether Hotz is genuinely hoping that people won't abuse the key, or whether he'd just trying to cover his own back, but either way, he's made it much easier for a lot of would-be pirates


Source: 1up [http://www.1up.com/news/hacker-claims-ps3-root-key]


Permalink

hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaa! i find these kinds of things hilarious!!!!

 

[VanityGirl]

My big question is, what does this mean for Sony?

 

[Luke Cartner]

Notorious iPhone Hacker Posts PS3 Master Key Online


In a very short post, Hotz thanked the fail0verflow hacker team, who gave a presentation [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106511-Hacker-Group-Gives-Video-Tour-of-PS3-Security-System] about the PS3's security system just last week, for their assistance with the asymmetric part of the key.



Of course, the problem is that while Hotz might not condone piracy, there are plenty of others out there who have absolutely no problems with it at all. I don't know whether Hotz is genuinely hoping that people won't abuse the key, or whether he'd just trying to cover his own back, but either way, he's made it much easier for a lot of would-be pirates


Source: 1up [http://www.1up.com/news/hacker-claims-ps3-root-key]


Permalink

To be fair to Hotz he hasn't really made this easier for would be pirates per se. sony did so when they used a shared secret in the form of a key as:
1) if a pirate made a perfect copy it would contain the result of the master key in it and function without the pirate having active knowledge of the key itself
2) share secrets are possible to reverse engine, leak or other wise obtain; sony is lucky it remained a secret all these years since the original release.

While any form of DRM is an "arms race" scenario using a water mark such as this is simply a case of "security through obscurity". Which relies on people not knowing about or not looking for the secret.
To be honest I would expect sony to be more upset that homebrew and indy dev's can release on the platform without giving sony a cut more than piracy (which a quick google indicates is occurring with or without the masterkey).

 

[thecoreyhlltt]

I'll spell this out for you, since you didn't seem to get what I was asking.

Read your reply again; it's clearly not asking what you're claiming it's asking, but whatever I'll pretend other-wise seeing as how this is your attempt to save face.

What the heck did you read that would instill the thought that the majority of the use would just be for pirating.

The piracy figures for any of the consoles out there in proportion to devices modified for other purposes is going to be in favor of piracy...what the hell did you read that would make you feel otherwise? Considering it's been called "the most intensely pirated market ever.", if you think homebrew / other means is of more interest to a wider range of people you must be delusional.

I am asking for the source for what ever you read, or heard, or saw, that would lead you to make you assume this.

You mean beyond the staggering ratio of DS, PSP, PC and Xbox 360 piracy? If you beleive there're more people using these tools legitimately then you're very naive...

If you really want me to find some figures for those platforms I will do but if you've been following any form of gaming media you should know how high [particular the first 3] the piracy rates are; introducing this to the market is clearly only going to cause piracy.

I wouldn't have quoted the "That's a assumed fact" if I didn't read it. I yanked that entire sentence, and bolded the part I took issue with and the left the other part, as it was relevant to my interest.

The only thing it was relevant to was pointing out the fact that I'm not quoting actual sources... So you ask for sources?

Instead, you decided to assail me, instead of asking for clarification of my reply. Either respond like a normal individual, or don't respond at all.

This coming from the person that so eloquently ended his previous reply with "kthx". It's pretty difficult to take anything you state about forum responses seriously, gotta love the hypocrisy though...

was it really necessary to be a dick?

 

[Seanchaidh]

How dare people increase the capabilities of the hardware that they bought? Why, that's just downright innovative! And we all know that innovation is bad. Objecting to the actions of this hacker is essentially objecting to his making a product that he bought better. This man added armrests to his chair. To the pillory!

 

[Ghengis John]

was it really necessary to be a dick?

Not to be a jerk but, your avatar is Vicious, king of the dicks and yet you disapprove of dickedness?

How dare people increase the capabilities of the hardware that they bought? Why, that's just downright innovative! And we all know that innovation is bad. Objecting to the actions of this hacker is essentially objecting to his making a product that he bought better. This man added armrests to his chair. To the pillory!

He also just made it possible for many people to sit in the chair as often as they'd like in their own home without ever buying one themselves. Now the chair maker and his wife will starve and the chairmaker's children, they'll wind up in one of them Godawful factories they will!

Not that I'm not itching to play my PC games on my PS3, I just know there's a lot of people out there with net connections that like free things. Go figure.

 

[newwiseman]

hackers make for the best security consultants. Makes sense to pimp him self to potential targe-uhh I mean employers.

 

[thecoreyhlltt]

was it really necessary to be a dick?

Not to be a jerk but, your avatar is Vicious, king of the dicks and yet you disapprove of dickedness?

How dare people increase the capabilities of the hardware that they bought? Why, that's just downright innovative! And we all know that innovation is bad. Objecting to the actions of this hacker is essentially objecting to his making a product that he bought better. This man added armrests to his chair. To the pillory!

He also just made it possible for many people to sit in the chair as often as they'd like in their own home without ever buying one themselves. Now the chair maker and his wife will starve and the chairmaker's children, they'll wind up in one of them Godawful factories they will!

Not that I'm not itching to play my PC games on my PS3, I just know there's a lot of people out there with net connections that like free things. Go figure.

i think vicious gets a bad rap just cause he's spikes enemey and leader of the syndicate. but who knows, he could just be acting out of frustration and hatred towards his father. besides, we all know he loves julia too. vicious just needs a hug.

 

[GeneralDefiance]

I dont think sony or any other company would in all good sense hire him.

imagine someone breaks into your house while your sleeping, wakes you up and says ' hey i just broke into your house and went through all your stuff, i hope you dont mind but i told pretty much everyone how i did it too. Hope your not mad, but if it helps i really dont like the idea of burglary anyway. SAY! how bout you give me money and i make sure this doesn't happen again?.whaddya say..cmon!'

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

It's believed, although not confirmed, that Sony will have trouble changing this key without rendering a lot of PS3 software inoperable.

And if it were any other company we were talking about here, I would just sort of shake my head and laugh, and say "But that would never happen". But this is Sony... are we SURE we can put this past them?

My love for my PS3 is weak enough that I wouldn't be above filling it with explosive spiders and mailing it to Sony.

 

[Kakashi on crack]

Heh, Sony got it big time.

I don't approve of pirating games, but I think this is a major step forward to a more user-accepting sony system.

Seriously though, unless the game is new I can find games for the same price as a cheeseburger at a resteraunt, so it can't be that expensive to just buy the dang game...

 

[Atmos Duality]

Hotz made it clear that he didn't condone piracy, however, and hoped that people would use the key responsibly.

*laughs*
"Here's a gun, make sure you don't shoot anyone with it!"

 

[e102ewan]

How does this help pirates? Won't this key just be useful for creating new apps (I.e. Homebrew) and calling them PS3 ones? Surely the pirated games would already have their key embedded?

No the DRM is written on a section of the disc by the publisher and this section can't have games written on it. The idea of unlocking this secret code is that other people can write it onto their own blu-ray discs along with games that don't already have it written on.

If a game doesn't have this code written on it than the console is programmed not to read the disc as a game.

With the Gamecube and the Wii I'm pretty sure that the DRM is written with a different kind of laser so it's even harder to copyright but it can be bypassed with homebrew software anyway which tells it to ignore what's written on a certain part of the disc and assume that a certain code is written there (the DRM) even though it isn't.

 

[e102ewan]

I meant to say "to break the copyright" not "to copyright" sorry I was writing it quickly.

 

[Malo_Tux]

Internet: 1
Sony: 0

 

[Triple G]

Aaaaaand giving the unwashed pirates the keys to the castle is about the most idiotic thing someone can do.

This guy knows how to wipe his own arse, doesn't he?

Totally. Those people are just destroying gaming industry like television destroyed movie theaters! How dare they make use of their right to share information?! Only people with money should have rights, right?

But seriously now, do YOU know how to "wipe your arse"?

 

[Autofaux]

Aaaaaand giving the unwashed pirates the keys to the castle is about the most idiotic thing someone can do.

This guy knows how to wipe his own arse, doesn't he?

Totally. Those people are just destroying gaming industry like television destroyed movie theaters! How dare they make use of their right to share information?! Only people with money should have rights, right?

But seriously now, do YOU know how to "wipe your arse"?

This isn't a utopia, where everyone uses information wisely, and benevolent idealism is king and everyone gets along.

Firstly, you can't share information that doesn't belong to you, about a platform that relies on security, and expect others not to abuse it.

Idiot.

Secondly, rights go hand in hand with responsibilities. If this idiot was responsible, he wouldn't share an exploit of a platform's software security on the internet, which we all know is filled with people with the best of intentions, all the time.

Idiot.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

Do you need help wiping your arse, then? I hear people on the internet are fantastic human beings.

Idiot.

 

[Triple G]

Aaaaaand giving the unwashed pirates the keys to the castle is about the most idiotic thing someone can do.

This guy knows how to wipe his own arse, doesn't he?

Totally. Those people are just destroying gaming industry like television destroyed movie theaters! How dare they make use of their right to share information?! Only people with money should have rights, right?

But seriously now, do YOU know how to "wipe your arse"?

This isn't a utopia, where everyone uses information wisely, and benevolent idealism is king and everyone gets along.

Firstly, you can't share information that doesn't belong to you, about a platform that relies on security, and expect others not to abuse it.

Idiot.

Secondly, rights go hand in hand with responsibilities. If this idiot was responsible, he wouldn't share an exploit of a platform's software security on the internet, which we all know is filled with people with the best of intentions, all the time.

Idiot.

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

Do you need help wiping your arse, then? I hear people on the internet are fantastic human beings.

Idiot.

1. Thanks for being so considerate and nice about the topic.
2. Dude, wake up. Sony doesn't have the best intentions, either.
3. If I buy a piece of hardware, then I have the right to modify it as I wish, because it's MY property. This guy was just helping people modifying THEIR OWN hardware.
4. Yes, you really prove that people on the internet are fantastic human beings -.-

 

[Volothos]

Please, can I just say that I think that Hotz is a moron for thinking that this'll be used in a responsible way?