Sony Playstation 3 Hacked Again, Console Encryption Keys Leaked

The Sony Playstation 3 has been hacked yet again and the hackers responsible for the attack have released the console’s encryption keys online.

According to EuroGamer:

“Sony is waking up to a new PlayStation 3 security nightmare after a day in which a brand new, PSN-enabled custom firmware was released for hacked consoles, swiftly followed up by publication of the console’s LV0 decryption keys – which some say blows the system wide open.”

Sony’s PS3 is no stranger to hacked systems, two years ago PSJailbreak was released, exploiting a weakness in the PS3’s USB protocols which allowed users to run copied software from hard disk.

The hacker group failoverflow eventually found another exploit that allowed users to encrypt files for the system in the same way Sony implemented its own system protocols.

Throw in Geohot’s public release of the metldr root key and it quickly became apparent that Sony was never prepared to deal properly with security features on its PS3 gaming console.

The hackers who broke the most recent PS3 encryption code call themselves The Three Tuskateers. According to the group they discovered the hack a while back but never released it.

The group that discovered the hack did not release Sony’s encryption keys, instead that information was leaked to a Chinese hacking outfit known as BlueDiskCFW which planned to charge for customer firmware updates.

Not wanting a hacker group to profit from the discovery LV0 released the Sony encryption key within 24 hours.

The Three Tuskateers in a public statement wrote:

“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 by others to make money out of it has forced us to release this now.”