14 DAY TRIAL // The PlayStation 3 has just received a firmware upgrade, taking it up to version 3.56, but the new software has been already hacked by the PS3 community.
The PlayStation 3 has been in some serious hacking problems lately, as a team of crackers found the master decryption key, which could verify any type of software for the console and paved the way for customized firmwares to start popping up around the web.
Sony finally issued a security update yesterday, by releasing a new firmware, version 3.56, which, according to its release, only solved a couple of "security problems."
In case you didn't figure it out, the update was specifically targeted at the new wave of customized firmware versions and the hackers that used them to play pirated games.
Sadly for Sony, that didn't exactly work out, as a member of the hacking scene, KaKaRoTo already figured out how to unpack and uncover the decryption keys in the new firmware version.
There's still one big hurdle though, as Sony fixed the software signing process, meaning you can't make homebrew apps work on a PlayStation 3 with the 3.56 software version, at least for the moment.
Still, the decryption of the files just paves the way for other hackers to mess around with the code, and we will probably see customized versions of the 3.56 firmware in the near future.
For what it's worth, KaKaRoTo said that he would focus his homebrew efforts on customized 3.55 firmware versions, as they're easier to work with and developers can sign software for them.
Expect Sony to once more counter the efforts of the hackers with another, more serious firmware update in the following weeks.
In case you haven't been following the whole PS3 hacking debate, a group of hackers uncovered the master decryption key of the console, with which they could sign any type of software and the PS3 would run it natively.
After a few weeks, the first versions of customized firmwares were already in the wild, and, while at first these pieces of software didn't support pirated games, at the moment you can just play any title you want on a PS3 with a customized firmware and the right homebrew apps.