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Wednesday, January 12, 2011
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Sony Files Complaint Against fail0verflow Group Over Latest PS3 Hacks
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Sony has decided to take a legal action against hacking group
"fail0verflow," which have managed to gain access to the PS3's innards
allowing it to run Linux software.
Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC filled a complaint against
George Hotz, Hector Martin Cantero, Sven Peter - the fail0verflow
team - claiming that they have circumvented effective technological
protection measures (TPMs) employed by SCEA to protect against
unauthorized access to and/or copying of SCEA's proprietary
PlayStation 3 computer entertainment systems, and other
copyrighted works; and trafficked in circumvention technology,
products, services, methods, codes, software tools, devices,
component or part thereof, including but not limited to the Elliptic
Curve Digital Signature Algorithm ("ECDSA") Keys, encryption
and/or decryption keys, dePKG firmware decrypter program, Signing
Tools, 3.55 Firmware Jailbreak, and/or any other technologies that
enable unauthorized access to and/or copying of PS3 Systems and other
copyrighted works.
SCEA has alleged that Defendants have violated the Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA); the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), as
well as related state and common law claims for violation of the
California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.
On January 11, 2011, SCEA moved ex parte on its claims for violation
of the DMCA and CFAA against Defendant Hotz for a Temporary
Restraining Order (TRO).
Since the release of the PS3 System in 2006, software hackers have
attempted to write code to run unauthorized software on SCEA's gaming
system. Until a few days ago, the efforts of these hackers were
largely thwarted by the TPMs that secure the various levels of the
PS3 System. In late December 2010, a hacking group called
FAIL0VERFLOW discovered a way to access certain levels of the
PS3 System by circumventing the corresponding TPMs. At that point,
hackers were given the tools to run unauthorized software on the PS3
System. Building on FAIL0VERFLOW's work, Hotz gained access to a
critical level of the PS3 System by circumventing the corresponding
TPMs. In early January 2011, Hotz publicly distributed the
circumvention devices necessary to access that level, providing them
to the public via the Internet and releasing software code that will
allow users to run unauthorized software on the PS3 System.
On December 29, 2010, the FAIL0VERFLOW Defendants appeared at the
Chaos Communication Conference (the "Chaos Conference"), a hacker
event in Berlin. Boasting that they had circumvented TPMs for
certain levels of the PS3 System, the FAIL0VERFLOW Defendants
broadcast detailed instructions for their circumvention method and
promised to divulge information and proprietary code they
obtained by unlawfully accessing the PS3 System.
Within two days, the group began publishing the code, software tools
and scrambled or encryted keys derived from their circumvention of
the TPMs on Twitter and other websites.
Devices, Hotz circumvented certain other TPMs in the PS3 System,
intentionally accessed the PS3 System without authorization, and
misappropriated critical SCEA Keys ("Metldr Keys" or the "Root
Keys").These keys are part of a TPM in the PS3 System, and are
necessary to authenticate code that runs on a
critical level of that System. With access to this particular level,
one can control crucial functions and operations of the PS3 System
and execute code that will enable pirated video games to run on the
PS3 System. Knowing that the Keys can defeat TPMs in the PS3 System,
Hotz began using these proprietary Keys as a component of a
Circumvention Device that applies SCEA signatures to any file,
effectively "tricking" the PS3 System into running unauthorized
programs. On January 2, 2011, Hotz published the Metldr Keys on his
website under the banner "keys open doors." By doing so, "Hotz
compromised the confidentiality of those Keys and invited other
software pirates to incorporate the Keys into their own circumvention
technology," DSCEA claims. Hotz?s distribution of the Metldr Keys
enabled software pirates to create and run unauthorized copies of
video games. |
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