Joystiq

How GeoHot went from winning science fairs to instigating the hacker war

Jessica Conditt — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:30:00 EST

Hackers built the Internet. Throughout the 1970s and '80s hackers altered the Internet from a strictly business communications system for the defense department and librarians into a robust online community for anyone with a computer to use as they pleased. The Internet and computer technology is still evolving, perhaps at a a faster, more public rate today, and hackers are still at the forefront of its design. Hackers such as Geohot, the guy who rooted Sony's PS3 early last year.

George Hotz posted the PS3 root key online with a statement reading "I don't condone piracy" in January 2011 and it spread online. Geohot became an unsuspecting martyr in the hacker community when Sony sued him and won an injunction barring him from ever tampering with a Sony product again. Thus began the hacker wars, The New Yorker suggests in a biographical run-down of 2011's events.

Hotz was brilliant in science and technology fields throughout middle and high school, winning $15,000 at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007 and appearing in Forbes and on The Today Show for his technological achievements.

He hacked the PS3 master key while he was high on OxyContin and Vicodin. He didn't condone or participate in any of Anonymous' hacks into Sony's servers, and since his online spotlight has faded he's worked for Facebook, quit and run amok in Panama, and met with Sony engineers curious about his methodology. He has reminders to "Call therapist" on his whiteboard. Geohotz is human, The New Yorker makes sure to point out.

The full story is available here, or we figure you can just watch this eerily similar dramatic recreation of an antisocial programmer's rise to fame. They're both human, after all.

How GeoHot went from winning science fairs to instigating the hacker war originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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George 'Geohot' Hotz now using his powers for good, Facebook

Jordan Mallory — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST

If Uncle Ben taught us anything, it's that with great power, comes great responsibility. And, if you're legendary hacker George 'Geohot' Hotz, great job opportunities! Having survived Sony's legal onslaught earlier this year, Hotz has landed himself a sweet development gig at Facebook.

During an interview with hacking community MyGreatFest, rival jailbreaker Joshua Hill (aka P0sixninja) claimed that Geohot had declined an iPad 2 hacking challenge in order to maintain a low profile, and to focus on his new job at Facebook. Hill implied that Hotz's refusal to hack some 'pads indicated his involvement in the development of Facebook's as-yet-unconfirmed iPad app.

Hotz's rumored employment status was later corroborated by TechMeme's Gabe Rivera, who tweeted a link to the hacker's (now private) Facebook wall, which reportedly called the social network "an amazing place to work." George certainly isn't the first hacker to give up the game and go legit, and with more companies recognizing the talent and skill required for the craft, we doubt he'll be the last.

George 'Geohot' Hotz now using his powers for good, Facebook originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Geohot: War on hackers, lack of security experts caused PSN debacle

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST

With all the recent hubbub concerning the PSN outage and security breach, the plight of legally beleaguered PS3 jailbreaker George "Geohot" Hotz may have slipped from your periphery. However, the notorious hacker recently posted in his personal blog about the incident, explaining he had nothing to do with the attacks on Sony's user info database. "I'm not crazy," Hotz said, "and would prefer to not have the FBI knocking on my door."

Hotz added that the gaming community might be misplacing some of its anger over the intrusion, saying, "Let's not fault the Sony engineers for this, the same way I do not fault the engineers who designed the BMG rootkit." He added, "The fault lies with the executives who declared a war on hackers, laughed at the idea of people penetrating the fortress that once was Sony, whined incessantly about piracy, and kept hiring more lawyers when they really needed to hire good security experts." A good point -- though, now, we think they're probably going to need all the lawyers they can get.

Geohot: War on hackers, lack of security experts caused PSN debacle originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony and PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George Hotz settle out of court

Ben Gilbert — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:05:00 EST

After a short but rather storied history, infamous PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George "GeoHot" Hotz and Sony Computer Entertainment of America have settled their legal dispute, with a statement on the PlayStation Blog stating the two parties "reached an agreement in principle" around 10 days ago. According to said agreement, Hotz has "consented to a permanent injunction," meaning he super swears he won't do it again (legally speaking, of course), though no other terms are given. We were told by an SCEA rep that the terms of the settlement (beyond what was disclosed) are confidential.

Unsurprisingly, both Hotz' legal team and Sony's were excited to resolve the legal dispute so quickly. "It was never my intention to cause any users trouble or to make piracy easier. I'm happy to have the litigation behind me," Hotz said in the announcement.

Previously, Hotz had strict terms for a potential settlement. "Let's just say, I want the settlement terms to include OtherOS on all PS3s and an apology on the PlayStation blog for ever removing it," Hotz wrote on his website during the trial. "It'd be good PR for Sony too, lord knows they could use it," he continued. "I'm also willing to accept a trade, a legit path to homebrew for knowledge of how to stop new firmwares from being decrypted." Apparently the case spooked Hotz enough to reconsider.

The settlement announcement also absolves Hotz of any potential wrongdoing associated with recent PlayStation Network attacks. "Hotz was not involved in the recent attacks on Sony's internet services and websites," the statement reads.

To fully drive the point of the blog post home, SCEA general counsel Riley Russell said of Hotz, "We appreciate Mr. Hotz's willingness to address the legal issues involved in this case and work with us to quickly bring this matter to an early resolution."

For his part, Hotz announced via his blog this morning that he is "joining the Sony boycott," and that he "will never purchase another Sony product." It could be that he's mad after the legal case ... or it could just be that he's broke.

Sony and PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George Hotz settle out of court originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation Network issues persist as hacker collective continues attacks

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:00:00 EST

Taking to the US and EU PlayStation Forums en masse, PlayStation 3 users continue to report connectivity issues with PlayStation Network today. Starting with the declaration of attack by hacker group "Anonymous" earlier this week, PSN has been experiencing sporadic issues over the past few days -- Sony characterized the outages as "intermittent" earlier this week, and promised that "engineers are working to restore and maintain the services." As of the time of publishing, we have been unable to connect to PSN today through several staff accounts.

According to a Sony EU forum moderator, a trio of error codes could be showing up for affected users (80710092, 80710D36 and 8071053D), though little else is offered in way of information. "We are currently looking into this and I will update the thread as more information becomes available," the post notes.

Additionally, PlayStation Lifestyle reports that a splinter group of Anonymous -- identified as "SonyRecon" -- is apparently going after specific Sony executives, seeking to reveal "names, phone numbers, pictures, home addresses, email, internet protocol address, family members and other data." CEO Sir Howard Stringer is said to be one of the group's targets, among others.

As previously detailed, Anonymous launched the attacks on Sony earlier this week as a sign of solidarity with hackers George "GeoHot" Hotz and Alexander "Graf_Chokolo" Egorenkov, both of whom are currently in litigation with Sony.

PlayStation Network issues persist as hacker collective continues attacks originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Geohot's lawyer responds to Sony's South America accusations

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST

Yesterday, the ballad of hacker George "Geohot" Hotz and his ongoing legal struggle with Sony took a bizarre turn, when the latter claimed Hotz had hampered "jurisdictional discovery" by removing parts of his overturned hard drives, and is currently avoiding trial in South America. Recently, Hotz' legal counsel Stewart Kellar responded to these claims, explaining, "The notion that George has fled the country is absurd."

Kellar added, "George is in South America to see a friend, on a trip he planned before this lawsuit ever began." With regards to the claim that Hotz had sabotaged the hard drives he turned over to Sony, Kellar said Sony is "using intentionally ambiguous language" to turn public opinion against Hotz. "The 'components' SCEA is talking about are hard drives' controller cards," he said, claiming that they had been supplied to the prosecutor.

We've once again contacted Sony for a response (to this response), but given their policy for not commenting on legal issues, we won't bother crossing our fingers.

Geohot's lawyer responds to Sony's South America accusations originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony claims George 'Geohot' Hotz is avoiding trial in South America

Ben Gilbert — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST

Sony may have access to pretty much all of PS3 jailbreaker George "GeoHot" Hotz's records, but it doesn't have access to Hotz himself. As unearthed by VGHQ, a legal complaint filed by Sony alleges that Hotz "is now in South America, an excuse for why he will not immediately provide the components of his hard drives." Sony believes that Hotz left with the intention of delaying his ongoing trial.

According to Sony's lawyers, Hotz has been "engaged in a campaign to thwart jurisdictional discovery at every turn" over "the last several weeks" -- including the intentional removal of "integral components of his impounded hard drives," said to contain implicating evidence of Hotz's alleged misdeeds. Apparently, when SCEA discovered that Hotz's HDDs were missing parts, a request for the components was met with a response from Hotz's legal counsel that Hotz "was in South America." One thing's for sure -- if he is in South America somewhere, Hotz's freestyle rap about Sony is no longer the weirdest thing about the story of the PS3 jailbreak.

Sony claims George 'Geohot' Hotz is avoiding trial in South America originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony granted access to GeoHot's PayPal records

James Ransom-Wiley — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST

A federal magistrate has authorized Sony to subpoena PayPal for information about California-based funds sent to accounts associated with PS3 jailbreaker George "GeoHot" Hotz, reports Wired's Threat Level blog. The US District Court ruling in San Francisco is the latest development in a jurisdiction dispute to decide whether Sony can proceed with its lawsuit against Hotz in California or must instead do so in Hotz's home state of New Jersey.

Sony alleges that Hotz received donations for his PS3 hack from Northern California residents (via PayPal), and, if true, the evidence could bolster Sony's case to keep the case in San Francisco court. In a court order, Magistrate Joseph Spero defined the "limited information" that PayPal could be ordered to present as "documents sufficient to identify the source of funds in California that went into any PayPal account associated with geohot@gmail.com for the period of January 1, 2009, to February 1, 2011."

Additionally, Judge Spero ordered Hotz to consent to Sony obtaining all of his tweets dating back to Jan. 1, 2009 and to appear in California for a deposition relating "solely" to the jurisdiction matter (with Sony paying for his "reasonable" expenses).

As for Hotz's "impounded devices," a neutral third party, known simply as "The Intelligence Group" (or "TIG"), has been tasked with conducting a "forensically sound" probe of Hotz's encrypted hard drives (and a calculator) for any data related to his PS3 system circumvention hack. Hotz and Sony will split the first $7,000 charged by TIG, with Sony agreeing to pay any additional fees.

[Pictured: George Hotz (screencap); source: G4tv.com]

Sony granted access to GeoHot's PayPal records originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Federal Magistrate allows Sony to look up visitors to GeoHot site

Griffin McElroy — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST

Sony was recently awarded another minor victory in its continuing legal action against George "GeoHot" Hotz and his distribution of a workaround allowing users to jailbreak their PS3s. Federal Magistrate Joseph Spero decided Thursday to allow Sony to subpoena Hotz's web provider to acquire the IP addresses of any of GeoHot.com visitors from January 2009 through present day. Sony was also given subpoenas for information from Google, YouTube and Twitter.

Magistrate Spero explained the information obtained by the subpoena would be used to measure the extent of the "defendant's distribution" of the jailbreak files, as well as settle whether Sony must sue Hotz in New Jersey or San Francisco -- the former being Hotz's home state, and the latter being the region in which Sony argues the files were most downloaded. The jurisdiction of the suit will be settled in court during a hearing in San Francisco next month.

Federal Magistrate allows Sony to look up visitors to GeoHot site originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony finally releases official statement on PS3 jailbreak

Griffin McElroy — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:30:00 EST

Though Sony has been dealing with the legal and metaphysical struggles associated with GeoHot's PS3 jailbreak discovery for some time now, the company had yet to release an official statement on the matter until today. The statement comes via a PlayStation Blog post and warns users:

"Notice: Unauthorized circumvention devices for the PlayStation 3 system have been recently released by hackers. These devices permit the use of unauthorized or pirated software. Use of such devices or software violates the terms of the 'System Software License Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System' and the 'Terms of Services and User Agreement' for the PlayStation Network/Qriocity and its Community Code of Conduct provisions. Violation of the System Software Licence Agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system. In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of International Copyright Laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently.

"To avoid this, consumers must immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems."

We've provided a handy summation for our friends who lack long attention spans:

Hey, you! Cut that out.

Sony finally releases official statement on PS3 jailbreak originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony looking to expand jailbreak lawsuit to more defendants

Andrew Yoon — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:05:00 EST

Geohot may soon have company while facing the wrath of Sony. George Hotz has had to defend himself in court against the company since the beginning of this year, as Sony attempts to track down all the hackers responsible for the now widely-available PS3 jailbreak. The problem, thus far, has been actually finding them.

According to documents retrieved by PSX-SCENE, the company is pursuing this information, subpoenaing sites like the recently-DMCA'd Github. Sony is requesting "all information and documents related to the use of your service(s) to register, create, maintain and/or use accounts associated with the user names "hermesEOL," "kakaroto," "waninkoko," and "grafchokolo."

Although it's unlikely this legal action will slow distribution of the jailbreak, Sony's actions send a very loud statement: "we're very angry, and we're coming for all you."

Sony looking to expand jailbreak lawsuit to more defendants originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Github removes PS3 jailbreak files after Sony sends DMCA takedown notice

Griffin McElroy — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST

Removing files from the internet is about as difficult and futile a task as trying to remove an upsetting mental image from your thoughts -- elephants with spider faces! (Boom! That's in your mind now.) This isn't stopping Sony from trying its darndest to keep the PS3 jailbreak files from circulating. The company recently sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act notice to Github -- a site for hosting super efficient Git files, designed to assist coders in collaborating over the web -- to remove the "Custom Firmware" files authored by George "GeoHot" Hotz.

Github acquiesced, removing the files in accordance with its policy concerning DMCA notices. Of course, in doing so ... the site also highlighted the filenames of each of the removed Custom Firmware components!

Github removes PS3 jailbreak files after Sony sends DMCA takedown notice originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony's restraining order against Geohot granted

JC Fletcher — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:20:00 EST

Everything's coming up Sony. First, the NGP is unveiled to a general chorus of *drool*. Now, PSX-Scene has revealed court documents showing that a district judge granted Sony's temporary restraining order against PS3 hacker George "geohot" Hotz.

Hotz is now barred from "offering to the public, creating, posting online, marketing, advertising, promoting, installing, distributing, providing, or otherwise trafficking" (phew) in any software or methods for circumventing the PS3's protection methods. No longer can he "provide links from any website to any other website" relating to such matters, or publish any information obtained by hacking the PS3. And more to the point, he can no longer "engage in acts of circumvention of TPMS in the PS3 System to access, obtain, remove, or traffic in copyrighted works."

The court allowed this restraining order to go through despite jurisdiction issues (specifically, Hotz residing in a different state than Sony, and a different state from where the claim was filed), granting specific jurisdiction "because he purposefully directed his activities at the forum state" of California.

The judge ordered that all involved parties meet to set a hearing date regarding Sony's motion for an injunction -- and Hotz's motion to dismiss on personal jurisdiction grounds -- by February 1, 2011.

Sony's restraining order against Geohot granted originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GeoHot sets sights on jailbreaking Windows Phone 7

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:00:00 EST

After successfully cracking open the deepest protections of the PlayStation 3 -- an act which garnered not only a fair amount of press, but also quite a bit of litigatory pressure from Sony -- George "GeoHot" Hotz has set his sights on a new piece of consumer electronics: The Windows Phone 7 platform. We hope he pulls through with jailbreaking the device, so we can finally ... um, replace those gaudy square home page panels with more visually pleasing circular panels? We guess?

Microsoft developer platform product management head Brandon Watson didn't respond to GeoHot's announcement with intimidation, however, telling him over Twitter, "if you want to build cool stuff on #wp7, send me e-mail and the team will give you a phone -- let dev creativity flourish." That's positively heartwarming! Oh, wait -- we also like things that are free. Hey, Microsoft! We're totally gonna hack your stuff. Your phones, your Xboxes -- all of it. You too, BMW. We're hacking all your cars, so you might as well just give them to us.

GeoHot sets sights on jailbreaking Windows Phone 7 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS3 hack court case delayed, jurisdiction questioned

Andrew Yoon — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:20:00 EST

Sony's claim against hacker Georgen "geohot" Hotz will have to find another day in court, as a trial has been delayed due to questions of where the case should physically be held. Currently, the case is being reviewed in San Francisco, but district court judge Susan Illston raised questions as to whether the case should be tried in California or New Jersey, where Hotz resides. Sony's lawyers have argued that, because the hack was distributed via Twitter and YouTube (both based in California), the case should continue. In addition, Hotz supposedly received donations via PayPal, another California-based institution.

"If having a PayPal account were enough, then there would be personal jurisdiction in this court over everybody, and that just can't be right," Illston responded.

The case is delayed pending further discussions over jurisdiction, a decision Sony is likely to frown upon. Given the free availability of the hack online, it's in the company's best interest to try and secure a victory as quickly as possible -- even if it means little can be done to stop the proliferation of the hack.

Update [1/24/11]: Some of the court documents have been posted on PSX-SCENE, providing greater detail of the two sides' arguments over jurisdiction.

[Image source: G4]

PS3 hack court case delayed, jurisdiction questioned originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 17 Jan 2011 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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George Hotz: I got sued for 'making Sony mad'

David Hinkle — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:50:00 EST

Despite being entrenched in full-on legal warfare, George "GeoHot" Hotz managed to find time to make an appearance on G4's Attack of the Show last night to discuss his history and, more importantly, his current suit with Sony. While Hotz himself doesn't support piracy, the code he and other prominent hacking outfit, fail0verflow, helped produce to allow the PS3 to run unsigned code can be used for such a thing ... but that's not why Sony is suing him. In his own words, he's being sued for "making Sony mad."

Hotz says that with his jailbreak tool, he made "a specific effort while working on this to try and enable homebrew without enabling things [...] like piracy." Of course, that doesn't console Sony at all -- people are doing things on the PS3 that Sony never meant for.

Hit the jump for the full interview.

Continue reading George Hotz: I got sued for 'making Sony mad'

George Hotz: I got sued for 'making Sony mad' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Massive co-founder worries effects of PS3 piracy could be worse than handhelds' plight

Griffin McElroy — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST

Wondering why there's such a hullabaloo over that PS3 security breach? According to Martin Walfisz, who co-founded Massive Entertainment (but left the company shortly after its purchase by Ubisoft to focus on development of new DRM strategies), it's because it's the end of the world. Well, okay, maybe it's not that bad -- but Walfisz paints a pretty grim picture for Sony, telling GamesIndustry.biz, "If that hack works as reported, I don't believe that Sony can regain any control."

Walfisz predicts that Sony could employ a system similar to Microsoft's anti-piracy measures through Xbox Live, blocking hacked PS3s from connecting to the PlayStation Network; though if the hack works as reported, and doesn't require a mod chip to function, Walfisz worries Sony won't be able to detect which users are playing pirated games -- though Sony claims it can and will shut down "jailbroken" consoles. What's worse, Walfisz adds, "I would assume that pirated copies can be stored on the HDD as well, making it so easy to use that PS3 piracy, given time, might even surpass the handhelds." Piracy is pernicious enough on exposed systems, but super convenient piracy? Yikes.

Massive co-founder worries effects of PS3 piracy could be worse than handhelds' plight originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony issues more court documents in hacking case, GeoHot's lawyer responds

JC Fletcher — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:10:00 EST

More court documents have surfaced in the suit between Sony and PS3 hackers, mostly declarations on the part of each of Sony's lawyers in support of the restraining order against George "GeoHot" Hotz and other hackers. One document contains over 280 pages of "evidence" to provide cause for enjoining them against further hacking -- said evidence consisting of full, copy-and-pasted pages from Twitter accounts, forum posts, and news stories relating to the recent discoveries of the PS3's private and root keys.

Also included are summons for the hackers, and a document from Sony declining to bring the case before a magistrate judge, requesting a district judge instead. According to PSX-Scene, there's also evidence that Sony sent $1 to Hotz's PayPal account through his email address, in order to prove he is accepting donations, even though he hadn't actually requested donations.

NeoGAF's Sangreal also obtained responses from the lawyers representing Hotz. The opposition statement claims that the California court has no jurisdiction over Hotz or any of the other defendants, and that Hotz has no connection to the other hackers.

More substantially, Hotz's attorneys' statement asserts that "Defendant Hotz has not produced, manufactured, sold, nor does he have any intent whatsoever to produce, manufacture, or sell, any devices that facilitate piracy." It dismisses Sony's use of other piracy cases for precedent, because those cases involve hardware used to circumvent the PS3's protection, and not software. Moreover, the statement makes the point that enjoining Hotz from his programming activities won't do anything. "Sony's own pleadings admit that the code necessary to jailbreak the Sony PlayStation computer is on the internet," the statement reads. "Sony speaks of 'closing the door', but the simple fact is that there is no door to close. The code sought to be restrained will always be a Google search away."

Sony issues more court documents in hacking case, GeoHot's lawyer responds originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony begins legal action against PS3 hackers

JC Fletcher — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:15:00 EST

Last week, hacking group fail0verflow and well-known iPhone hacker George "GeoHot" Hotz revealed new hacks for the PS3 allowing pretty much anyone to run unsigned code on the system. Sony has yet to nullify this through "network updates" as promised, and has instead chosen to address this problem by filing temporary restraining orders against the hackers. Hotz posted the court documents on his own site after receiving them.

The court documents claim that the hacks violate the DMCA, and that "Already, pirated games are being packaged and distributed with these circumvention devices." Sony's restraining order is designed to "restrain" Hotz and the others from continuing to hack the PS3's protection measures, and from distributing their exploits.

Hotz doesn't seem worried about Sony's ire. "I would expect a company that prides itself on intellectual property to be well versed in the provisions of the law, so I am disappointed in Sony's current action," Hotz told the BBC. "I have spoken with legal counsel and I feel comfortable that Sony's action against me doesn't have any basis."

[Thanks, Mike]

Sony begins legal action against PS3 hackers originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS3 homebrew caught on video, Sony promises 'fix'

Richard Mitchell — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST

The PS3 root key saga continues, with hacker Geohot posting a video demonstrating homemade software running on a PS3 using firmware 3.55. There's not much to the software, essentially a reworked "Hello World" that says "sup dawg, it's geohot," but it's more than enough to prove viability of homebrew software on the PS3.

Sony, for its part, has stated to Edge that it 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." However, fail0verflow hacking group member pytey recently told the BBC, "The complete console is compromised - there is no recovery from this." He added that the only possible way to correct the hack would be for Sony to "issue new hardware."

Continue reading PS3 homebrew caught on video, Sony promises 'fix'

PS3 homebrew caught on video, Sony promises 'fix' originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hacker GeoHot claims release of PS3 root key

JC Fletcher — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST

Last week, hacking group fail0verflow claimed to have found a method for discovering a PlayStation 3's "private key," each system's unique code restricting access to unsigned code. GeoHot (who found another PS3 exploit a year ago) says he has released the PS3's METLDR root key to the public, which allows access to the PS3's loaders, and reportedly could be used to allow any unsigned code to be run on the system. In addition, fail0verflow has started releasing development tools for the PS3.

In a brief note on his site, GeoHot congratulated the fail0verflow team and noted that "I do not condone piracy," and then suggested that the three current console manufacturers contact him if they want secure systems. "It'd be fun to be on the other side."

Hacker GeoHot claims release of PS3 root key originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 03 Jan 2011 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PS3 hacker claims custom firmware revives 'Other OS' in 3.21, provides video proof

Randy Nelson — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:28:00 EST

What the PS3 homebrew community hoped was an April Fool's joke by Sony turned out not to be, as the latest system update for the console (3.21) axed the ability to install another operating system, i.e. Linux, on it. The feature has been absent from the PS3 "Slim" since its release, but owners of the original form factor probably never expected to lose the functionality. Enter Geohot, the person who in January claimed to have "hacked the PS3." He now claims to have created a custom firmware update that not only reintroduces the Other OS feature to original PS3 units, but potentially the Slim systems as well.

Geohot writes on his blog that "this can be installed without having to open up your PS3, just by restoring a custom generated PUP file, but only from 3.15 or previous. It's possible this CFW will also work on the slim to actually *enable* OtherOS." He also takes Sony to task for removing the feature in the first place, saying it is "potentially turning 100000+ legit users into 'hackers.'"

The YouTube video we've embedded after the break purports to show Geohot's PS3 booting Linux thanks to his custom v3.21 firmware. He hasn't put a firm date on the release of the hack, but simply divulging its existence was probably more than enough to get Sony's lawyers drawing up the paperwork for a cease and desist.

[Via Engadget]

Continue reading PS3 hacker claims custom firmware revives 'Other OS' in 3.21, provides video proof

PS3 hacker claims custom firmware revives 'Other OS' in 3.21, provides video proof originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PlayStation 3 hacked; GeoHot releases 'coveted PS3 exploit' - ramifications 'unclear' says DigitalFoundry

Christopher Grant — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:40:00 EST

Update: Reader Kevin K shared this link from Eurogamer's resident egghead, Richard Leadbetter of DigitalFoundry, who notes that "it remains unclear what the ramifications of the hack actually are" and that "right now there has been no "hello world" homebrew code executed that typically demonstrates that the hacker actually has full control over the system." Read the entire piece for a fascinating look into the challenge of hacking the PS3 and the safeguards put in place on Sony's black box.

You may also want to read this BBC interview with Mr. Hotz, in which he says, "I can now do whatever I want with the system. It's like I've got an awesome new power - I'm just not sure how to wield it." He also tells the BBC that he "would publish details of the console's 'root key'"; however, DigitalFoundry writes, "Once the root key is available, it's essentially game over for the system's security for all-time, but it's here that some of the claims being made for the hack don't really add up. PSP has been compromised on many levels again and again, but its root key apparently remains unknown."

Original post: It has begun. With iPhone hacker George Hotz (the kids call him GeoHot) releasing his PlayStation 3 exploit to the world today, he's kicked off what's sure to be a non-stop game of cat-and-mouse between the global hacking community and the Japanese consumer electronics giant. "This is the coveted PS3 exploit," Hotz writes on his blog, linking to the exploit while noting that it "gives full memory access and therefore ring 0 access from OtherOS." Okay, we really only understood that first part but we're sure "full memory access" is synonymous with "bad news" for Sony's engineers. When first revealing his progress last Friday, Hotz wrote, "I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3."

Of course, we've seen this very same game played out on the PSP front with a constant stream of firmware updates designed to patch up the portable's porous security and, yes, even add some new features now and again. With the PS3 already the victim of an onerous amount of updates, we worry the hack may result in a glut of mandatory security patches. But who knows what wonders (no, we don't count the inevitable piracy amongst those wonders) this hack holds for PS3 owners - since the hack "is known to work with version 2.4.2 only" we suspect most people reading this won't even be able to tinker. Caveat emptor!

[Via Engadget]

PlayStation 3 hacked; GeoHot releases 'coveted PS3 exploit' - ramifications 'unclear' says DigitalFoundry originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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