The PS Jailbreak mod chip for the PS3 came out just a couple weeks ago, but it has already been shut down by the Sony legal team.  Quick work by Sony but it looks like it isn’t over yet!  The PSJailbreak source code has been released as an open source project called the PS Groove that allows anyone with a little bit of know how to create their own PS Jailbreak clone for about $30.  There is even a Android PSGroove port that allows you to use an Android phone or tablet to apply  the PSGroove mod to your PS3 without even buying a USB device.

What does all this mean?  It means that Sony has not yet solved their problem.  Not only is the code that successfully hacks their console out and about, it is publicly available in a growing number of versions and clones and being actively developed by a community of hackers.  There is no way for Sony’s lawyers to stop this.  It is going to be up to the engineers and programmers at Sony to find the security exploits that these mod chips are making use of and plugging the holes.  Not only do they need to fix the exploits currently being used; now that a community of hackers has been gathered, they will need to stay ahead of this group which is surely even now searching for more security holes.  This process could be expensive and exhaustive and may not even be successful in the end.

What is the threat?  Sony has managed up to this point to protect their console from the extensive game pirating problem that has cost computer game developers millions of dollars over the past few years.  While the PSGroove has the feature that would allow game pirating disabled, it will not be long until someone finds a to make this possible if there isn’t a guide for doing so already out there.  Sony itself gets royalties from all games sold for its console and is therefore rightfully fighting to prevent the rise of game piracy on the PS3.

This story is still developing and should be very interesting to watch in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned!