PlayStation a hacker's dream

New Zealand-based security researcher Nick Breese claims to have used the year-old gaming console to crack passwords at speeds 100 times greater than Intel hardware is capable of.

Breese, a security consultant with Security-Assessment.com, presented his findings to the Kiwicon hacker conference in Wellington, New Zealand.

"Suddenly we have a massive increase in terms of . . . cryptography cracking," he told Next. "Eight-character 'strong' passwords can be broken in a couple of days whereas before it would take weeks."

[Relcom]

to ruling the world with robots powered by the PS3's amazing proccessing power. Good luck everyone!

[Gamespot-equals-EGM]

-Uncle Ben (Peter Parker's uncle)

[rushbd]

another reason is because they have failed to make a modchip.

I think this is some kind of record.

I don't think any console got a year without getting a working modchip that can play backups. Kudos to SOny. but it's hurting their Asian sales. Many of my friends are waiting for the modchip before buying a PS3. some of them jumped the gun and bought a xbox 360. only to be greated with RRod after a month or two. repair is out of question.

[MK_Red]

If only devs could make good use of Cell's true power in graphics and processing power. We may never see it but if we do, it will be one hell of a stunner.

[Relcom]

That sony made something to advanced for most devs(especially EA)?

[J@D]

The winner of the most funny comment today is: Relcom and ur prize is a bubble ^_^

[Relcom]

=]

[Gamespot-equals-EGM]

I have a strong feeling the game that Team Ico (I think that's their name; the developer that made Ico and Shadow of Collosus) will make will blow people away.

On par with (and maybe surpassing) MGS4 and FFXIII.

[Relcom]

That got the most out of the PS2 besides God of War 2. They are kings.

[WilliamRLBaker]

another incident that proves what the ps3 is good at, number crunching....sadly this is all its good at...

[Douchebaggery]

Silly me I've been using it to play game, now where can I find some numbers to start crunching.

[Foliage]

What a shame, the 360 isn't even good at basic math. Half the time it commits suicide because it feels so useless. When it is alive and someone tries giving it a disc to play with, it doesn't even want to admit that it can't read at a proper rate so it kills the discs out of frustration. Maybe it is for the best. The few hard working 360s out there end up out of action for trying something beyond it's capabilities.

It's hard not to pity the 360 when you have been playing beyond... or playing at all.

[ravinash]

Download Fold[email protected] cure cancer and make the world a better place.

[c64days]

If developers will know how to maximize the use of SPUs, then we will enjoy of a great games.

it's a shame, they don't have the motivations, and exited from new technology as the hackers does.

[INehalemEXI]

Yup, pretty much. Sent engineers back to school.

[J@D]

did u mean devs? right?

[GIJeff]

no, he means software engineers. (aka programmers, developers, etc..)

[mirroredderorrim]

L2read:"The gaming console is perfect for cracking passwords because the chips it uses are optimised to rapidly perform the calculations required to model 3-D environments. The computing techniques used to crack passwords are similar."

[GIJeff]

Maybe plop a couple of cells into a vaio PC, with 4 gigs of XDDR, 8800's in SLI...oh sweet mother of pearl.

A man can dream cant he?

[v1c1ous]

too bad sony dropped cell research support.

[DJ]

You'd be surprised what Sony's planning to do. The PS3 already has PC capabilities with the installation of any operating system (though, preferably Linux). They really want to blur the line between Game Console and Personal Computer, and if they get the right software and enough industry support, PS4 might start replacing PCs.

Sun Microsystems already has Open Office, which is compatible with Microsoft Office formats. If Sony can get applications such as AIM or Yahoo Messenger, iTunes, spruce up their default browser (or allow Firefox), and a complete Office Suite that's compatible with Microsoft Office and just as good or better, then there won't be much of a point to have a PC.

Microsoft is already pushing to have PCs as the multimedia centers for Television setups (this includes the Xbox 360), but haven't been bold enough due to the high royalties they get from the PC market. Sony and Microsoft's positions are unique because they construct both hardware and software, and hardware manufacturers tend to have little control over the software that runs on their hardware. Hopefully Microsoft gets brave enough to do what Sony's experimenting with.

*EDIT: To V1C1ous

Sony has not dropped developmental research for Cell. They have dropped manufacturing research regarding 32NM technology, and have left that to IBM. Sony, Toshiba, and IBM are still involved in creating the successor to Cell though, due within the next 4~5 years.

[Skerj]

If there were some way I could upgrade the PS3 ram then I'd invest in a few 40gbs for a rendering farm. But I'll always need a PC for my line of work.

[waltercross]

Speaking of PC platforms on the PS3, I Think if Apple was smart, they should make a deal with Sony to make Mac a standard platform on the PS3/PS4, because right now for years now, Windows dominates the PC's, It'll be a smart move by Apple/Sony to agree on a deal.

[greenenvy]

yep, sounds about right. playstation piracy is so rampant its not funny...........

hope they do something about that before they try anything with pcs, or they will get eaten for dinner by the likes of microsoft.....

no contest. :-D

[Relcom]

you need to read the article my man. what your talking about has nothing to do with this article.

[Skerj]

Yeah I'm wondering what the hell he's talking about too. ..

[jorellpogi]

Your post is incoherent. Enlighten us about your thoughts.

[mark09]

Actually the ps3 hasnt been hacked yet unlike the 360 with its mod chips so you have no idea what youre talking about.