PlayStation 3 'hacked' by iPhone cracker

[tittenman]

A US hacker who gained notoriety for unlocking Apple's iPhone as a teenager has told BBC News that he has now hacked Sony's PlayStation 3 (PS3).

Full story below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8478764.stm

PlayStation 3 'has finally been hacked'
http://www.news.com.au/technology/g...le-playstation-3/story-e6frfro0-1225823503219

PlayStation 3 finally 'jailbroken':
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10440544-1.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=Crave

PlayStation 3 "jailbroken"
http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2010/01/25/playstation-3-jailbreaked-/?scid=rss_c_crv_ha

 

[PornKhaos]

Ive never understood what enjoyment hackers get out of hacking things. Why would you want to hack somebodys computer or hack into a system?

 

[Legzman]

Ive never understood what enjoyment hackers get out of hacking things. Why would you want to hack somebodys computer or hack into a system?

to steal shit like credit card numbers etc. My question is why tell the authorities?

 

[paveman]

to steal shit like credit card numbers etc. My question is why tell the authorities?

This guy wanted to find out if the PS3 was a secure system. Well, it is (according to him at least). Almost unhackable. Almost, because he did pull it off. In other words: it was never his intention of not telling Sony / the authorities.

 

[~~whimsy~~]

Not all hackers are out for credit card numbers and personal info. Some do it as a challenge, others do it just to do it, and some do it to actually see how easy it is and then that is what causes programs to come out to make it much more safer.

Had people never hacked Internet Explorer and exploited its weaknesses we wouldn't have the safer alternative known as Firefox or whatever other internet program you should use.

There are both pros and cons to hacking. It's just sad that hackers who do it out of malicious intent give a bad name to those who are ultimately doing it out of good/neutral intentions.

 

[shayd]

Ive never understood what enjoyment hackers get out of hacking things. Why would you want to hack somebodys computer or hack into a system?

By in large, guys like this hack to make money. Not in the sense that they'll steal money, however now that he's got it hacked he has two profitable options: 1. Sell an adaptation of his hacked to the masses, charging for it, and making some money off of that. 2. He could release it for free and make money the same way that the iPhone hackers have, that is through donation, which has proven surprisingly profitable the past few years.

 

[Doc Scurlock]

Ive never understood what enjoyment hackers get out of hacking things. Why would you want to hack somebodys computer or hack into a system?

They do it for the chicks. The babes love a man with mad hAckOrz skills.

 

[PornKhaos]

By in large, guys like this hack to make money. Not in the sense that they'll steal money, however now that he's got it hacked he has two profitable options: 1. Sell an adaptation of his hacked to the masses, charging for it, and making some money off of that. 2. He could release it for free and make money the same way that the iPhone hackers have, that is through donation, which has proven surprisingly profitable the past few years.

Not sure if this will sound stupid or not, but if hes hacked into it, surely he would make more money by selling the software needed to prevent it from getting hacked? maybe he could make that software himself as he knows whats needed since hes the one who got inside. Either way the whole idea of hacking is beyond me.

 

[shayd]

Not sure if this will sound stupid or not, but if hes hacked into it, surely he would make more money by selling the software needed to prevent it from getting hacked? maybe he could make that software himself as he knows whats needed since hes the one who got inside. Either way the whole idea of hacking is beyond me.

That's not stupid at all, in fact that's another viable option that I completely missed. Basically, the idea of hacking isn't really what is portrayed in the media and for the most part the Internet. Hackers are most usually people who are at the most basic level trying to improve their understanding of current systems and in doing so testing the stability and exception handling of whatever entity they are hacking.

 

[tittenman]

That's not stupid at all, in fact that's another viable option that I completely missed. Basically, the idea of hacking isn't really what is portrayed in the media and for the most part the Internet. Hackers are most usually people who are at the most basic level trying to improve their understanding of current systems and in doing so testing the stability and exception handling of whatever entity they are hacking.

Very valid point there, due to movies and for that matter other media, they do tend to skew the real picture of what hacking is actually all about. Hackers generally in the first instance (the pioneers!) dont make any money they simply do it to gain knowledge and the challenge of doing it. Its the criminals afterwards who utilise this knowledge build tools to exploit it and try to make money from it that we should be more concerned about. After all if these exploits never made it into the media and remained underground in the hands of hardcore criminals then computers the internet etc would be a far more hazardous place. Bringing these weaknesses (and they are weaknesses) to the surface allows vendors to either fix them and also users to be wary about blindly trusting them.

 

[STDiva]

I wonder if these guys that hack systems like iPhones and PS3's and such could ever get a job for the companies they "attack"?