Crucial security information about the Sony PlayStation 3 has been leaked online, making it easier for users to play pirated games on the machine.
Unlocking games consoles is a common way for users to open up the system, but in the past, such efforts have been quickly thwarted.
This hack is equivalent to stealing a master key, say experts.
It comes as Sony heard that one of the mass lawsuits brought against it in the US had been dismissed by the judge.
Access to the inner workings of a games console means people can utilise its huge computing power in novel ways.
For example, the United States Air Force has networked 1,700 PS3s to create a powerful supercomputer.
But often the unlocking – called jailbreaking – is seen as a means to allow users to play pirated games.
The hackers behind the publication of the so-called LV0 decryption keys call themselves The Three Musketeers.
They say that they decided to release the information after it was leaked and fell into the hands of hackers who had planned to charge a fee for the code.
In a statement published on The Hacker News, the group said: “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 to make money out of it has forced said us to release this now.”
Writing about the hack, Eurogamer said: “Options Sony has in battling this leak are limited – every PS3 out there needs to be able to decrypt any firmware download package in order for the console to be updated.
“The reveal of the LV0 key basically means that any system update released by Sony going forward can be decrypted with little or no effort whatsoever.”
‘Perfect security’
In the past efforts to jailbreak the PS3 have been countered with the release of firmware able to resecure the console.Source close to the firm say they are not convinced that the latest hack is any more serious that past ones. An official statement from the console maker is due shortly.
In better news for Sony, a US judge has thrown out a mass lawsuit brought by users of the PlayStation Network, following a huge security breach in May 2011 which saw the user information of 69 million customers exposed.
The suit accused Sony of failing to adequately protect information and exposing users to identity theft.
Judge Battaglia from the US District Court of Southern California pointed to a clause in the user agreement which noted that “there was no such thing as perfect security” and said that the disclaimers meant there were no grounds for the lawsuits.
The plaintiffs have until 9 November to appeal against the decision.
[Source] = BBC
10-26-2012
01:03 AM
10-26-2012
01:04 AM
Eh? What has BBC red button got to do with PS3 "master key"?
Edit: ok trippy! Now it's not about BBC red button. Lol?!
10-26-2012
01:05 AM
10-26-2012
01:07 AM
I know iv just woken up, but damn!
10-26-2012
01:09 AM
can someone please post what's "NEW" about that thread? is there anything we can do now that couldn't be done yesterday? maybe it's too early for me, but I do not get the news
10-26-2012
01:10 AM
They *let the dogs* out.
10-26-2012
01:16 AM
Read this earlier, the BBC are hilarious when it comes to tech journalism...
"LVO" lol
10-26-2012
01:21 AM
10-26-2012
01:26 AM
Gr8..... f@#k Sony .........
10-26-2012
01:30 AM
so if nothing happens then there will be a new cfw for us right ? :/
10-26-2012
01:30 AM
leak keys Lv0 is an old master keys.
there was a new 'backup' master keys, it's call Lv0.2.
10-26-2012
01:32 AM
Hit youtube and you will see how many legit users and sony lovers are *****ing about this.
10-26-2012
03:06 AM
I love how the article makes us look like pirates. A$$hats.
10-26-2012
03:12 AM
10-26-2012
03:36 AM
Yeah, I've lost, I'm glad someone found it.
10-26-2012
03:55 AM
At least this time your article is "news", although it is old news.
10-26-2012
04:29 AM
Warning
Thats not cool. Keep it civil please.
10-26-2012
04:33 AM
snip snap.. nvm
10-26-2012
04:37 AM
Is lv0 and Master key the same or what
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10-26-2012
04:54 AM
F*ck Eurogamer.......
10-26-2012
04:54 AM
10-26-2012
04:59 AM
you know what F^CK euro gamer for there bullsh!t nonsense and the BBC just because we get cfw we pirate? what about homebrew such as showtime? emulators? epic homebrew like paintown/hero city I mean seriously oh and F"CK YOU SONY DONT DARE TRY STOP THE SCENE FROM PREVAILING :D
10-26-2012
05:34 AM
I have only one thing to say...
10-26-2012
05:41 AM
As far as those fools are concerned: showtime plays illegally downloaded movies and music, emulators play illegally downloaded copies of games, and paintown steals copyrighted characters from other peoples IP's.
They have an idiotic answer to everything.
10-26-2012
07:15 AM
not seeing any advantage to this "leak keys" only 3:55 consoles can use, and do not see any light at the end of the tunnel for us that we are stuck on 3:56 + +
10-26-2012
07:23 AM
But the master keys have not been released....
If there were then all those on 3000 and 4000 consoles and all those on and other ofw wold be able to install cfw without downgrading, wouldnt they???
10-26-2012
07:25 AM
Why we just don't took a ship, and sail with our pirated PS3s and then we can invade Sony's Headquarters, we can steal, murder, etc... all things that we pirates loves to do... ARRGSSSS... we can enter the offices, since we have the Master key (?)
10-26-2012
07:28 AM
getting these keys doesn't simply builds you an CFW within a freakin' minute if thats what you're thinking..
why don't you reverse lv0 yourself and get the appldr, isoldr, lv2ldr, lv1ldr and all the other keys.. you can do WHATEVER YOU WANT if you have them all.
the lv0 is probably the same, and these keys might work on our consoles aswell, however, ever since the 3k models ( among with some 2k's ) $ony changed their system and added more security checks to prevent the console from running any other firmware then sony and sony's only.
as I'm not sure if it's in the bootldr, or metldr2, I should just tell you that we need to wait longer then the rest, but don't worry.. someday, the metldr2 / lv0.2 will be hacked aswell.
I'm actually wondering though; how can one hack metldr2 / lv0.2 by software, and software only if you cannot execute any specific code from the XMB, ingame, browser or whatever?
the chances of being a hardware-only-job is pretty big, no?
( don't start flaming if I told some bs.. I havn't really been looking at lv0 just yet, nor did I ever take a look at sony's 'new' 'system' )
10-26-2012
08:03 AM
The Three Muskeeters ????
They must say: ROGERO, DEANK & MATH
10-26-2012
03:31 PM
ok, im sure this is a dumb question, or rather a simplified summary of the facts, but am i correct that at this point this is useless for the end user on ofw 4.25?
10-26-2012
03:41 PM
maybe right now..
GIVE IT SOME GODDAMN TIME AND STOP ASKING FFS!
10-26-2012
03:53 PM
10-26-2012
04:12 PM
Back when the keys by fail0verflow came out, the PSP keys were discovered from that. I'm curious if these LV0 codes will eventually lead to the master keys of the Vita as well.
10-26-2012
06:09 PM
I saw somewhere that all the slim ps3's come with the update lv0(0.2) is that true?
10-26-2012
06:16 PM
Bootldr2 and lv0.2 will probably have different keys than bootldr and lv0. Otherwise there would be no reason to change them. That and the security is much tighter, the keys are actually random, unlike before.
[MENTION=161133]MysterySword[/MENTION] No, this won't lead to Vita keys. The reason is that the Vita acts as USB host when connected, so the majority of the processing happens on the Vita itself. There is no need for the PS3 to have its keys. Sony learned their lesson with the PSP.
10-27-2012
04:35 PM
Is there a way for sony to secure the PSN or is it now wide open to hackers/modders running CFW ? Thanks.
10-27-2012
04:47 PM
Omg
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