PS3 trophies threatened by jailbreak tool

by Andrew Yoon on Jan 14th 2011 5:10PM

The PS3 jailbreak threatens to wreck havoc on the PlayStation ecosystem in ways beyond just piracy. The integrity of the PS3 trophy system hangs in the balance, as hackers have supposedly created an app that unlocks trophies in games automatically. CVG reports that the tool has been used to unlock trophies in BUZZ! and the notoriously challenging PAIN. Oddly, the tool apparently doesn't work in games like Resident Evil 5 and Batman: Arkham Asylum, meaning it isn't quite foolproof yet.

Obviously, a compromise like this undermines the entire point of the trophy system. Sony's Eric Lempel explained to us that the PSP couldn't support trophies due to the unsecured nature of that platform. "If people can artificially inflate their rankings ... it kills the whole [Trophy] system," he explained. Unfortunately, it appears Sony now faces the same issue on the PS3.

"We are aware of this, and are currently looking into it," a SCEE representative commented. "We will fix the issues through network updates, but because this is a security issue, we are not able to provide you with any more details."

Source: CVG

Tags: hack, jailbreak, playstation, playstation-network, ps3, psn, trophies

Reader Comments (101)

oh snap!

". Sony's Eric Lempel explained to us that the PSP couldn't support trophies due to the unsecured nature of that platform. "If people can artificially inflate their rankings ... it kills the whole [Trophy] system," he explained. Unfortunately, it appears Sony now faces the same issue on the PS3."

So not giving it to PSP was pointless. They should have just done it.

@lessthankris

that was more of a god damnit type of oh snap

"We will fix the issues through network updates, but because this is a security issue, we are not able to provide you with any more details."
don't they always say that? :/

@Shadowjesse626yahoocom

Yes, but lets be honest....you don't expect them to go into detail on how they plan to fix this. The goons who are hacking the PS3 (sans GeoHot) are very smart and talented people (complete assholes for opening the door to this sort of thing, but talented none the less).

This has been happening for a long time (since October or so)...
I even tipped you with a link to the forum where the tool is in development. >_>

Oh fuck no. Now I wish the ps3's security was never laid to rest.

I personally grinded my way into wipe out Hd platinum but couldn't make it due to a broken PS3. I can only imagine how much anger i would go through knowing I tried my best for a platinum and failed and yet mr.punkass over here has a plat. on wipeout hd -_-

@MiguelAMX
And now people are finally realising why hacking the PS3 was a BAD idea...

Become a hacker - Spoil everyone else's enjoyment!

@MiguelAMX
You can do that on Xbox 360 right now. Is it a big deal? Do you hear stories of how everyone's GS is worthless? No.

@JIAGPOS That's because the Gamerscore is just that, score. The PS3 is planning on making use of the trophy system for PlayStation Rewards quests.

@MiguelAMX

seriously? i can't believe people are freaking out this much about VIRTUAL TROPHIES.

@Angry Frank
PS Rewards isn't that big of a deal, you get three sets of six different avatars that say "SELECT", "PRO" and "LEGENDARY" under them along with a few dynamic themes and PS Home items.
So far only two games with trophies are actually apart of PS Rewards (to be more precise, it's PS Rewards Quests) which are Dead Nation obtain a gold trophy and GT5 obtain five trophies.
A person that buys $300 worth of content off the PS Store can easily max out in a day, this can't be hacked and regardless look what you earn and still none of it proves anything.

Sure I look cool with my pro Sackboy avatar, it does nothing for me though.

they'll probably just wipe out all the achievements... err... trophies, of these people who cheated.

@onlysublime
Seeing how most trophies can't be unlocked one after another they can probably just look for people who have like dozens of unlocks in a short span of time and see if their systems are reporting the errors that sony suggests these hacks create. Boom insta-ban.

If your system is hacked you shouldnt be accessing the PSN at all because of the threat of not only banning but also getting your system killed since they have that ability.

@PN04 they have no way of telling a modded system from a regular system because of the way the hack is. Sony is just blowing smoke on that part. kill switch??? pshaw..... but they can tell who cheats in terms of trophies or in terms of game hacks.

@PN04

I believe you can earn trophies when you are offline, I seem to recall earning trophies at the cottage and I definitely don't have an internet connection, I think it uploads all your trophies on the next opportunity, I could be wrong though.

@Draco Yes, you can earn trophies offline, but they are time stamped and then when you sync your profile they are added to your profile with the original earn time stamp, not the upload time

Just ban all those 13 year-olds who got all the trophies in 20 games in a matter of seconds.

@The Joy of Cooking DeMat

In the source link it mentions that the tool assigns random times stamps. So detection won't be quite that easy.

@Vidikron
No, random time stamp's won't make them completely undetectable. They're probably smart enough to make the platinum unlock last, but for other trophies, it would be strange to get a trophy such as "Beat the game on OMG IMPOSSIBLY DIFFICULT LEVEL" before a trophy given for completing the first level (assuming the game has more than one level). Obviously, it would still be very time consuming to go through every PSN member's trophies looking for flaws like that.

@Vidikron
Just look for games that have a Platinium unlocked at a different date from the other trophies.

@IronSnowman

Yeah, I speculated on that in a post just below. I don't think it would be that tedious to catch either. It should be fairly trivial to write a script to check that the time stamps for trophies that should be in chronological order are actually that way.

@The Joy of Cooking DeMat

Depending on the statistics regarding Trophies, Sony could also potentially just look for outliers.

Say that in November, the most Platinums that any one person had collected was 21, but two months later, there are suddenly 300 people that have unlocked 50 platinums.

There's tons of ways to parse the data to find people who were likely cheating. The question is what will Sony do with that info.

@Courtney

I think the only way to definitely stop the scene from doing this would be temporary bans, followed by permanent bans.

@The Joy of Cooking DeMat
Just because the timestamps on the system are randome that doesnt mean that the reports are random. if you log in and update your status with 200 trophies all earned on different days that's still 200 trophies that you got in a short period of time on sony's servers, you think that wont through up a red flag?

@IronSnowman

What if I were to bring a saved game from one system to another? Would the new gamertag (or whatever its called) get a trophy or no?

@The Joy of Cooking DeMat

Oh Yeah, SONY will have to bring the HAMMER DOWN. This is starting to get interesting. I am glad Sony is working hard to limit all that hacking even if its for something else than playing pirated games.

No matter what this will disrupt our world and I DON'T LIKE it.

Let people use PC to run all of their great app whatever it is and let us just Play Games, Watch Netflix and try to earn that Platinum Trophy. I am hoping to get one by the end of this month in InFamous. Still got 10 or so trophies to go.

@IronSnowman

Actually, that doesn't work. I have an impossible collection of achievements in Fallout 3 because of a bug; I'm missing one of the mid story ones that you "can't" avoid getting if you finish the game. (Don't go to the Jefferson Monument before you're told to).

@sqlrob

I doubt they would ban anyone over one or two out of place trophies due to bugs just like you described. It would probably be people with many such trophies... especially if many of them were synced at the same time.

@IronSnowman But your saying they are going to pay some one to go through all kind of detail on people's ps3s? Then again, if you force them to buy a new system or something probably worth it.

Why do all these hackers have to ruin everything?
I wan't to fight them!!!!

@PSBuckshot

It's funny that you say that, because every hacker claims there purpose isn't to allow piracy or ruin things for other people, but while they may have good intentions (example allowing for other OS to be on the PS3 when sony originally had that feature) there is always someone who comes behind and uses those good intentions to do something less honorable. honestly with everything sony has done since they released the PS3 It feels more and more like they are going the apple route with the system and will eventually make it so the system is locked tighter than guantanamo bay and those who do want to do things other than play games will be forced into purchasing some monthly program.

Hmm... the CVG article states that the tool gives random time stamps, which will certainly help evade detection, but I wonder if it's capable of determining which trophies can only be obtained in a certain order?

Wonderful. I hope these hackers just realize that all they're doing is makinf themselves download tons of updates.

@TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2 Just remember, these hackers are doing this for the greater good or...whatever excuse they decide to use today.

@TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2

You've missed the grand irony of this kind of security: the hackers won't have to download this. The hackers will stop updating their firmware once they're running a custom firmware.

Who cares, they are meaningless.

@dogmaticatheist

my thoughts exactly. although i do enjoy achieving trophies, this would only unlock the hackers a ton of them...which would make them look like ubernerds...which wouldn't matter because THEY'RE HACKERS!

@dogmaticatheist

Exactly. Why would anyone care if someone else had lots of trophies? The only reason I bother with trophies/achievements is simply to see if I can earn them. I could care less if someone else can.

This is the same reason that the point system for achievements is meaningless. The idea of earning something that was challenging is the fun part, not the points involved.

@dogmaticatheist

I love the ding of a trophy/achievement. It's strange, although they are just a little electronic icon it feels almost like a tangible marker of what i've achieved in the game. That being said i couldn't care less how many of them i have and can't for the life of me understand why someone would bother with this.

@dogmaticatheist

I agree. I didn't realize the trophy system was a "ranking system." I thought it was just an "achievement" system for personal enjoyment. Sure, I like to compare my trophies/achievements with my friends, but not out of competition. More like to see how far my friends have progressed in a game and the things they've done.

Who cares if everyone else gets platinum on anything they want? It's not like you get paid money for having those trophies.

@ExplicitFunction

Haha. Do you know that's why casinos operate such loud jackpot machines? The winning sound from one player gets sent to all the jackpot players and it makes them feel reinforced even when they aren't getting any money! The sound is a conditioned stimulus.

I'm guessing there was a ding! you worked for once, but now, all ding!s give a sense of satisfaction too ...

Who cares? Play games for yourself, not to impress others.

@spin cycle

But....I get Trophies for myself.

@spin cycle

Oh - you mean, I should only care about Trophies for myself (and not to impress others), in which case, I shouldn't car if the system gets hacked.

But wait a sec - why not play games and get Trophies to impress others?

@JasonA

because in reality no one looks at your gamercard and cares

@spin cycle Lets stop giving rings and physical trophies to teams that win the championships. Lets give that 100m winner of the olympics no gold medal. Because a trophy to remember personal accomplishment the the achiever has the right to be proud of if they wanted to is meanling less. This is another case of respecting what others hold valuable. If you feel trophies are meaningless... its beyond me why you would comment. For people who like a game a certain trophy or a platinum trophy in that game can be a sign of a skilled player (ie if you platinum SF4 & SSF4).. no scrub can ever do it. Same might go for a trophy hunter who is proud to have a platinum trophy for a very difficulty game to platinum or one that few people have the patience to endure (NGS2 & SO4). This hack, kills that drive and sense of accomplishment because anyone can obtain it without being qualified. It throws away all meaning for people that who take pride in obtainning trophies without hacks. If you don't care about trophies... then dammit this post\topic doesn't concern you.

@eat it

You're living in a very small, segregated reality then.

@eat it - There are plenty of people out there that compare gamerscores with their friends as a means of competition. If I'm playing a game, and I see that a friend of mine has gotten some advanced achievement, I'm much more likely to try for the same myself. It's a little extra incentive to do some of the more grueling tasks in games (like getting all the swords in Demon's Souls for instance).

@RagingStormX You can be proud of your own achievements. This doesn't affect that. If you accomplish something, you know you did it, right?

This only affects when you look at other's trophy lists. You can't trust if those are real or not.

Well, who cares? Play games for yourself. You play them, you have fun, you take pride in what you did if you wish. If someone else accomplishes something (legitimately or illegitimately) it doesn't diminish what you did.

So what does it matter if people can cheat and get arbitrary symbols attached to their account?

Anyway, cheating existed for trophies before, this just made it easier. When someone had a trophy on their account, who is to say their neighbor didn't get it for them?

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PS3 trophies threatened by jailbreak tool

Reader Comments (101)

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:11PM lessthankris said

Posted: Jan 16th 2011 5:36AM Extinction said

Posted: Jan 17th 2011 3:27AM lessthankris said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:14PM Shadowjesse626yahoocom said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:21PM RagingStormX said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:14PM DarkTwisted said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:22PM MiguelAMX said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:41PM Danjcb said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 2:04AM JIAGPOS said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 5:37AM Angry Frank said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 9:33PM maveric101 said

Posted: Jan 23rd 2011 7:59AM mcnichoj said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:15PM onlysublime said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:22PM PN04 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 9:30PM onlysublime said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 11:20AM Draco said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 4:45PM jayrockslife said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:15PM The Joy of Cooking DeMat said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:19PM Vidikron said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:36PM IronSnowman said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:41PM Xpike said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:50PM Vidikron said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:03PM Courtney said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:17PM The Joy of Cooking DeMat said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:18PM PN04 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:41PM IsItInYet said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 7:00PM pickupdoctor said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 7:27PM sqlrob said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 3:02AM Vidikron said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 6:53AM kujospam2000 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:16PM PSBuckshot said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 7:32PM asojax said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:18PM Vidikron said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:18PM TraceurRyuk Prepping for LBP2 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:23PM sammo21 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 9:53PM Chareth Cutestory said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:19PM dogmaticatheist said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:24PM PrimetimePragz said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:07PM Stormbarrier said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:53PM ExplicitFunction said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 8:36PM Deozaan said

Posted: Jan 15th 2011 5:24AM N0c7urn3 said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:20PM spin cycle said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:26PM JasonA said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:27PM JasonA said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 5:30PM eat it said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:18PM RagingStormX said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:25PM This Little Man Says His Name Is said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:26PM BananaBoat said

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 6:28PM spin cycle said

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