Sony PS3 master key leaked online

BBC News reports a hacker group named The Three Musketeers have leaked the "master key" to Sony's PlayStation 3 console. The group claims they released the so-called LVO decryption keys because the information fell into the hands of Chinese hackers who had planned to charge money for the code. The leak is bad news for game developers as it will likely lead to a big increase in pirated games, but given that Sony's PS3 is nearly six years old the company has done a pretty good job so far at keeping piracy minimal.

In a statement published on The Hacker News, the group said: "You can be sure that if it wouldn't have been for this leak, this key would never have seen the light of day, only the fear of our work being used to make money out of it has forced said us to release this now."

Writing about the hack, Eurogamer said: "Options Sony has in battling this leak are limited - every PS3 out there needs to be able to decrypt any firmware download package in order for the console to be updated.

"The reveal of the LVO key basically means that any system update released by Sony going forward can be decrypted with little or no effort whatsoever."