PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz joins Facebook, Anonymous to continue LulzSec’s work
Hackers have gone from being a bunch of geeky, nerdy dorks to being a bunch of geeky, nerdy, dangerous dorks, who are all over the news.
Apart from sharing a last name that would give the opposite impression of his lifestyle, or in fact appearance, George Hotz, is now an official employee for Facebook.
Apparently, the social networking site seemed impressed by Hotz, who managed to find a jailbreak for almost every electronic device he could get his gifted, and rather mischievous, hands on.
Already a major player in the world of software hacking, Hotz was responsible for the ‘jailbreak’ software that allowed users to cut through Apple’s security measures on the iPhone. This basically allowed people to download applications and software on their
iPhones, both for free and from sources other than the Apple Store.
Hotz, followed that up by doing the same to Sony, with the target being the PlayStation 3 home entertainment console. This allowed gamers to run a host of emulators that allowed pirated games to be played on the console.
The way Hotz was able to do this was by making the PlayStation 3’s root keys, the keys which kept the console safe from intrusions and hacks, public. This meant that anyone with the time, resources and willingness to break into the console and build firmware,
could do so.
Sony rectified the problem with a firmware update and even filed a lawsuit against Hotz, with the matter later being settled outside the courtroom.
Yet, it seems that Hotz is an in-demand programmer as he has been employed by Facebook to help develop, what is strongly rumoured to be, a Facebook application for iPad. There is still plenty of speculation as to his exact role at the social networking giant,
but Hotz seems to be loving his time there.
His Facebook status read, "Facebook is really an amazing place to work...first hackathon over."
Moving on from one famous hacker, to two groups of hackers who have combined to turn the corporate world’s online security on its collective head.
LulzSec is the group of hackers responsible for hacking into Sonypictures.com, SEGA, Nintendo and a host of other organisations, including making a list of the Peruvian Secret Police public. While there have been a number of arrests made, LulzSec continued
to operate till they suddenly stopped.
The latest news is that LulzSec members are now joining another major hacking group by the name of Anonymous.
Anonymous was responsible for, initially hacking into the Sony servers, but claimed they did not steal any data. Under the banner of Anonymous, the group of hackers are reportedly planning to launch an AntiSec campaign.
So far, no one has any idea what that means or entails, or even who the targets will be.
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