GeoHot is at it again! The PlayStation 3’s “Root Key” was discovered by a group of hackers last week and has been published by famed hacker GeoHot. The root key allows PS3 users to run homebrew applications without the need for dongles and devices like the PS3 Jailbreak.
The ‘root key’ is a sequence of hexadecimal numbers generated by a Certificate Authority (in this case, Sony), that verified whether code on the PS3 is legitimate. Its discovery means users will be able to run code easily on the PS3, including homebrew apps, custom firmwares and downgraders.
What really puts the PS3 security in hot water is that the root key apparently can’t be updated or changed without extensive modifications that would turn legitimate PS3 software unusable. In other words, Sony would need to release a firmware update and patches for all the games to ensure they can work with a newly generated root key.