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PS3 Hacker Claims He's Jailbroken 3.60 Firmware

Wesociety writes "Not one week ago Sony released a new PlayStation 3 firmware update which implemented cloud-saving for its PlayStation Plus subscribers and featured some understandably secretive behind-the-scenes security features meant to prevent future hacking. Today, a hacker is purporting that he broke firmware 3.60 and posted a video to prove it."

18 of 176 comments (clear)

  1. Unbreakable? by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The more you increase your security to keep hackers out, the more feverishly they'll work to take down what they see as a challenge.

    1. Re:Unbreakable? by abigsmurf · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The more hassle it is to play catchup, the less people who'll use firmware hacks for piracy. Sony don't have to win, they just have to put up a fight.

    2. Re:Unbreakable? by Drakkenmensch · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's just as probable that the next generation consoles will not be significantly more secure than this generations are.

      True, just listen to what these companies say about their current gen being hacked beyond hope but the NEXT gen being "too hard to crack THIS time"... it always ends up like Doctor Klaw waving his armored fist and yelling "I'll get you next time, Gadget, NEXT TIME!!!"

    3. Re:Unbreakable? by Bert64 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I haven't "hacked" my console...
      All i have done is fixed it..

      When i bought it, it was sold to me on the basis that i can play games on it *and* run linux. I don't play a lot of games (i have 5 for it) but i did want to play gran turismo 5, despite that game saying it's for "ps3", by default i can't play it on the ps3 without sacrificing the ability to run linux...
      It doesn't state anywhere on the box that i would have to sacrifice one of the functions i bought the ps3 for in order to continue using another...

      I don't play games online with it, but if i wanted to that would be even more ridiculous...

      So in the end i have to install a hacked firmware so that i can continue using linux on the ps3 and still play legitimately purchased newer games...

      I am probably going to sell my legitimately purchased copy of GT5 and continue playing a pirate copy out of principle - and pirate any future games i want to play, sony don't deserve any more of my money if this is how they treat paying customers.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  2. Am I going to get sued by Tigger's+Pet · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is Sony going to come after me for reading TFA? Do we now need to start incorporating "Caution: Reading the following article may result in you being sued to the ends of the earth" logos over the top of stories?

    1. Re:Am I going to get sued by Shikaku · · Score: 4, Funny

      Please assume the party escort position.

  3. Ah, this again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Someone spotted the fact that his debug loader properly connected to a PC, apparently something that retail PS3s, no matter how hacked they are, can't do. So for the moment, looking like a fake; basically a debug unit on the latest debug firmware.

  4. This is why we can't have nice things! by Tr3vin · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As a PS3 owner, I am getting a bit tired of all the jail-breaking. I get that people want to mess around with the hardware, but almost none of this work goes towards something new and useful. I've yet to see any work on some killer applications or games the PS3. I went through the same stuff with the Wii. Everybody talking about the great homebrew scene was but there was barely anything more than emulators. Sure, there were a few new games, but they weren't anything that fantastic. Then, Nintendo felt it necessary to update the bootloader for the Wii, bricking people's unhacked consoles. The PS3 isn't looking much different. All of this talk about being free to do what you want with the console, but people end up just getting their games for free. If you are going to hack the console, at least make it look like you are doing it for a worthwhile reason.

    1. Re:This is why we can't have nice things! by PitaBred · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's a war of attrition now, one that Sony started by taking away the OtherOS option for no real reason. Then the really smart people that wanted to hack the console for fun or use it for Linux work or clusters or whatever fixed that issue, and then all the script-kiddie hangers-on took it and ran with it after it was broken. If Sony hadn't fired the first shot, they wouldn't have these issues.

      I don't feel sorry for Sony one bit. They made their bed, and they can lie in it.

    2. Re:This is why we can't have nice things! by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As a PS3 owner, I say more power to them. Sony stole from me when they removed the OtherOS feature.

      Basically this.
      I'm normally against piracy, but Sony started this war. I'll fight back by never giving them another dollar. And I won't let that get in the way of my enjoying game that happen to be on their platforms.

    3. Re:This is why we can't have nice things! by click2005 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'll fight back by never giving them another dollar.

      You're going to stop buying games?

      Sony gets a percentage of game sales. Its why they subsidize the initial cost of the console.

      --
      I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
    4. Re:This is why we can't have nice things! by BtEO · · Score: 5, Informative

      Sony removed OtherOS from the Slim first. Then Geohot started poking around looking for ways to re-enable it.

    5. Re:This is why we can't have nice things! by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Insightful

      1. And you only beat your wife when she really deserves it?
      2. the hypervisor crippled the box.

    6. Re:This is why we can't have nice things! by Dorkmaster+Flek · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Slim never featured linux to begin with. They cut out the hardware to enable dual booting the way it had been done in other models to save costs.

      Except there was never any hardware required specifically to do that. Geohot got OtherOS working on the slim, thus proving that there was no technical limitation to running it there.

      --
      I like to think of online DRM as something akin to a college -- you pay for lessons until you learn something.
  5. Re:Is DRM conceptually useless? by MozeeToby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The PS3's DRM was unbroken for half a decade. Now, part of the reason it was so successful was because enthusiasts had access to many features they wanted via the OtherOS functionality, but the fact remains that there was virtually zero piracy of PS3 games for the first 5 years of it's life cycle. Even today with much of the DRM defeated, Piracy rates are still next to zero. Now compare that to the average nerdy college dorm room with a hacked XBox playing downloaded copies of everything from the latest AAA titles to old Atari games (though I suppose you could always play old games via emulators in Linux on the PS3).

  6. Debunked by FLEABttn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    He's running a dev unit. 3.60 has not been jailbroken. This was non-news when this video surfaced two days ago because it was debunked mere hours later. Glad to see Slashdot posting articles in a timely fashion.

  7. Re:Is DRM conceptually useless? by PRMan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nobody was motivated, because of Other OS.

    --
    Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  8. Re:Is DRM conceptually useless? by spire3661 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Took significantly less then 5 years to crack the PS3. The people who ended up finding the right stuff werent even looking until motivated by Sony.

    --
    Good-bye