Last week, a user named “N.A.” claimed on NeoGAF that a rootkit in firmware version 3.56 allows Sony to ”remotely execute code on the PS3” when users connect to the PlayStation Network, which would be used by Sony for ”verifying system files or searching for homebrew.”
N.A. states that while the rootkey is there, “Sony hasn’t activated any of this yet.”
Sony has yet to reveal there is a rootkit on the 3.56 update, and only stated that a ”security patch has been added.” However, unlike the class action lawsuit over the rootkit used in music CDs that Sony and BMG were forced to settle out of court on and which resulted in a recall of all music CDs with the rootkit installed, Sony has every legal right to include a rootkit on their own console.
The question of whether gamers want their privacy invaded is another matter - provided the rootkit does exist on the 3.56 firmware, which, again, has not been verified.
