Rumour: Sony Drops The Banhammer With FW 3.56

Reports are pouring in from all over the web that firmware update 3.56 might be a little more than just a ‘small security update.’ GamersMint is reporting that they have already uncovered some of what 3.56 is really meant to do, or to be more precise, what it’s meant to stop.

They’re saying that firmware 3.56 fixes the ‘ECDSA signature bug’ and renders all the ‘private keys’ that people were using to install custom firmware and go online, useless.  In case you’re thinking that it’s possible to just downgrade the firmware to a lower version like before, Sony may have covered that base too.

They went on to say that it is now impossible to downgrade your firmware after you’ve updated to 3.56, without new hardware.

So, assuming that’s true, it seems like the preventative measures are in place, but what about those who have already installed custom firmware and are playing on hacked consoles?  Here comes the banhammer.  Again, this is all unconfirmed by anyone here at TSA or by Sony themselves, but it looks like Sony now has a way of detecting these consoles when you attempt to access the PlayStation Network or update to 3.56.

Not only is GamersMint reporting that console bans are now in full swing, but a quick trip over to the Call of Duty: Black Ops forums is revealing the same result.  There are a ton of posts going up about users being completely banned from the PlayStation Network.  Not just their profiles, either, but the entire console.  And not just for custom firmware that may or may not just be used for homebrew, but for hacking stats in-game as well.

Now, of course, about 95% of these ban-hammer victims are completely innocent and don’t even know what the word ‘hacked’ means, nor how it could have possibly happened to their console without them knowing, but a few have stepped up and openly discussed their previous mischief.

The main explanation among these folks is that they had a profile on their console that had been used for hacking before now.  Multiple users have reported that it wasn’t even the hacked profile they were signing in with when they were banned.  It seems if your console has ever been used to hack and/or mod within a game, regardless of what profile was used when doing it, you may be the recipient of a console ban.

Of course, there are also sites out there claiming that 3.56 has already been hacked and that they’re already back up and running on the PlayStation Network, but you should take that with the exact same grain of salt as everything else in this article.

To clarify one more time, this all stems from rumour and unconfirmed reports.  No one here at TSA has any first hand knowledge of what has happened, nor has Sony confirmed that a mass ban has taken place.  This will likely be a hot topic over the next few days and more information is sure to filter in, so stay tuned.

Source: GamersMint – Black Ops forums