First off, let me state, I totally think cheating on multiplayer games and illegal copying are wrong , ammoral acts. I do not condone any of that. but this whole debacle has me wondering what kind of security mindset Sony has. This might be indicative of the entire industry. therefore it is worthwhile examing what is going on here.

If there is one thing I detest more than cheaters, it is lack of security. Let's see what Sony does for security.

They've created some keys to protect their game system. These keys are non-revocable.

To the best of my knowledge the keys are as follows:

• 46 DC EA D3 17 FE 45 D8 09 23 EB 97 E4 95 64 10 D4 CD B2 C2
• B0 CD 2F DF 15 C9 A7 9A 2C 28 41 5B 2B 53 85 ED 7E 91 D3 8D
• B0 E7 CA FF C8 DE EE 8A 55 A3 05 0D 80 9A DF E3 8F A0 1D AB
• 89 7F C3 B1 45 E1 0D 82 8B 8A 86 57 0F 9D F9 40 9F 75 CB B0
• 3D E8 01 67 D2 F0 E9 D3 0F 21 45 14 4A 55 8D 11 74 F5 41 0C
• A3 8B CB 3E 4E 73 09 90 4A EF DF C5 04 7D 0F DF 06 E3 5C 0D
• B0 E7 CA FF C8 DE EE 8A 55 A3 05 0D 80 9A DF E3 8F A0 1D AB
• 97 4E 90 62 79 70 5E 58 D9 DA B4 BF DA 8B DA 93 13 51 17 E2
• 04 0A B4 75 09 BE D0 4B D9 65 21 AD 1B 36 5B 86 BF 62 0A 98

The first key is the one discovered by GeoHot. It's the Master key. The Master Blaster , I guess. How stupid is this of Sony?

You can also discover the other keys for yourself by using this code. That code was developed by the failOverflow guys. Whoever the hell they are. I don't know them. Seriously. Really. In all honestness, I know them not. Just in case Sony is listening, let me make one thing purrfectly clear. I really, really do not know any of the people related to jailbreaking your pathetic game system security. They are a Smart Bunch of Dudes though.

I've looked at their code. It looks like it uses a lot of pretty vanilla encryption and decryption code, hashes and what not. Nothing spectacular, except for the fact they took the time to research it and reverse engineer the Sony PS3. I see nothing infringing here.

I can neither confirm, nor deny, these keys, nor say if they are all the keys. The fact is they are in the wild and Sony has no way to realistically recall them. Any bad guys out there already have them. Probably have had them before these researchers did, and there may be more keys still. Supposedly there is also a game signing key, or I'm not understanding the whole thread. I'm not sure if either GeoHotz or the failoverflow guys published that. I'm fairly sure, though, they did not. Some other related files are here.

Now, for my analysis of their security system.

It sucks!

no off switch!?

not

But Sony has been down this road several times now. It's pretty apparent they aren't ready to learn.

Please note, I don't have a Sony PS3. Don't have an account with them. No longer have a FB account. Don't twitter or tweet, and basically am old school. Or just plain old. I would never own a PS3, because, well let's face it, Sony has a lot issues and I'd rather not do business with them.

PS Sony if you're reading,

Arkell v. Pressdram