PS3 Finally Hacked!

Once impenetrable PS3 cracked wide open
iPhone hacker: 'I have great power'

By Dan Goodin in San Francisco

Posted in Security, 25th January 2010 19:51 GMT
The first hacker to successfully jailbreak the iPhone says he has pulled off yet another modding marvel, this time penetrating the previously impervious PlayStation 3 gaming console.

The hack by 20-year-old George Hotz, aka geohot, is significant because the PS3 was the only game console that hadn't been hacked, despite being on the market for more than three years. The feat greatly expands the functionality of the box by allowing it to run unrestricted versions of Linux and a wide range of games that are currently forbidden. The hardware and software designer told El Reg it took him five weeks to develop the hack using a combination of modifications to the console's hardware and software.

"Basically, I used hardware to open a small hole and then used software to make the hole the size of the system to get full read/write access," he said in an interview. "Right now, although the system is broken, I have great power. I can make they system do whatever I want."

The first three weeks were spent trying attacks to directly access memory of the console. He eventually settled on his current approach after realizing software approaches alone were insufficient.

A dropout of the Rochester Institute of Technology, geohot said he is declining to provide details to prevent Sony from introducing changes that would stymie the modifications. But a blog post announcing the accomplishment makes clear the hack gives users unprecedented control over their systems.

"I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor," geohot wrote. "In other words, I have hacked the PS3."

The hack will allow PS3 users for the first time to run unrestricted versions of Linux that have full access to the system's central processing unit and graphical processing unit. That will greatly expand the kinds of things users can do with the console. For starters, they could use the mod to run emulators that will play PS2 games on the machine, something Sony strictly forbids. It could also allow programs like the VLC media player to run much more robustly. The hack also opens the door to pirated games on the console, although geohot said that's an activity he's not interested in pursuing.

Geohot said he doesn't plan to release the software used to unlock the box until he can make it more reliable. It currently takes about 15 minutes to run and frequently fails to work properly. "If I posted what I have now, people would get fed up with it," he said.

He praised the PS3 as a "pretty secure system," that was harder to hack than many hardware systems he has penetrated.

"One of the main things Sony did right was put all the security on at once," he explained. "From day 1, the PS3 was secure."

allowing it to run unrestricted versions of Linux

I have great power. I can make the system do whatever I want.

Game "Hackers" aren't exactly a good thing. They make mods for the games we like to play and make small fortunes helping the "rmt" cheat.

Oh yea, remember what happened to the Dreamcast when it was revealed how easy it was to rip the CD based games on computer using a boot disc to help the game rips to work. The dreamcast closed down right away, no more SEGA console.

According to Bernie Stolar, former President and CEO of Sega of America, the Dreamcast was discontinued because the new chairman of Sega wanted the company to focus on software.

Edit: From wiki:

Keep in mind this is a CEO that said this. It can be another way of saying "We *** up in the console business, maybe we should just make games instead."

Luckily this hack ins't that good. Most of the times hacks like these make things worse than better. Take the psp for instance. It was hacked right away at firmware 1.50 than Sony fixed the problem with following firmware updates that greatly restricted the psp usability. Some hacker got E props and a few dingbats got atari games on thier psp.

Game "Hackers" aren't exactly a good thing. They make mods for the games we like to play and make small fortunes helping the "rmt" cheat.

Oh yea, remember what happened to the Dreamcast when it was revealed how easy it was to rip the CD based games on computer using a boot disc to help the game rips to work. The dreamcast closed down right away, no more SEGA console.

I recall there being a "hack" or "mod" to the PSP that allowed you to play virtually any PS1 ROM that was loaded on your memory chip. Did Sony bitchslap everyone with new firmware that restricts the usage if changed?

So in other words, new PSPs can't be modified to run emulators?

I'm pretty sure the reason Dreamcast failed was because PS2 came out a couple months after its release. I don't know if I'd call Dreamcast faulty, though. I loved mine to death and played the hell out of it.

Actually, I have thoroughly enjoyed every Sega system I've owned and still own. Sega Genesis, Nomad (portable Genesis), Sega CD, and Dreamcast. I never personally owned a Saturn, but knew someone that did. It's another console that I hated to see go away. Once I have the money to pointlessly blow, I'm going to get one. (did I miss a Sega system in there?)

I loved my Genesis as a teen aswell, played the hell out of Sonic 2, Bart Simpsons nightmare, and street fighter 2.


I don't remember the Nomad, I do remember Game Gear.


I had a friend who had Saturn aswell, turned me onto the Lunar game series.

I couldn't help but think, 'lol I can make my PC do what ever I want too, and I don't have to screw around with it for 3 years / 15 minutes to get it to work properly'.

I guess its cool to hack it and be all like 'Yeah take that Sony!', but it doesn't seem all that impressive to say 'I have Linux installed on my PS3'.

what about the Master System and the 32X?