To re-cap, then: the PS3 was hacked. Sony updated the console’s firmware to try and fix its compromised security. However, according to the PS3 hacker community, it’s not exactly a permanent solution.
Talking to Edge, PS3 “reverse engineer” Mathieu Hervais says that, “[The firmare 3.56 update] was more of a patch to save what’s left to be saved. Indeed Sony fixed everything that could have been fixed. The reality though is that this is only a minor drawback.”
It’s sort of complicated, but simply put, the PS3’s security key policies were – crucially – missing a random element, which enabled hackers to decrypt them with some hard sums. The latest security update addresses this, but Hervais reckons it’s only a temporary solution.
“New keys were introduced in the 3.56 firmware and code that is not whitelisted is now forced to use those keys,” he explains. “However, since the boot chain integrity is compromised it’s always possible to reprogram externally the NAND/NOR chips (where the firmware code is written to) to run unsigned code again. No matter what they do, a 3.56 (and onward) custom firmware is possible on all PlayStation 3 consoles manufactured so far.”
Or, basically, all PS3 consoles sold until now will remain open to hackers.
“The people Sony hired made several kindergarten mistakes while implementing their security,” he adds.
Sony is currently pursuing litigation against those responsible for hacking the console, and have been granted a restraining order against George Hotz, who published the PS3’s security keys online.
Discuss PS3 jailbreaking on the MyGaming forum.
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