
PlayStation Vita Exploit Reverse Engineering Challenge - gdk
http://yifan.lu/2016/08/05/henkaku-koth-challenge/
======
bicubic
I dream of a world where device manufacturers are required to hand the
firmware signing keys over to the public X years after product going to
market. I have a growing collection of no longer supported but perfectly
capable electronics which are just collecting dust because they're locked
down. The Vita is a prominent example of this - the hardware is amazing, but
the titles are just not appealing and I'd much rather play some SNES or
homebrew on it. Instead it sits collecting dust, neither providing any value
to me, nor any revenue to Sony.

------
godzillabrennus
Interwsting plan to find a new crew to take up the mantle on the scene while
they step away since they don't have time anymore.

Doubt it'll pay off though since they obviously spent years mastering this
hardware and it's unlikely anyone else will invest as much time.

Hope I'm wrong.

~~~
yifanlu
In theory everything you need is in those binaries. We had to start from
nothing. There's already a lot you can learn from the device just by running
your own code on it.

~~~
woliveirajr
It's cool tho read the creator speaking :-)

In general we like to have it all given and explained, but this kind of
contest always will interested someone.

Thanks!

------
erdaniels
I'm not sure how this is going to help the community. I'm sure the scene would
thrive faster given they release the source and tooling.

------
interrrested
How much CTF's are helping in real world ? Is it just a game ?

~~~
yifanlu
I have to admit I never done one myself (always been meaning to, never had the
time) but a lot of friends have and I trust their words. I believe it helps in
the real world because these "war games" simulate real world systems and
trains people in attacking them (therefore learning how to defend against such
attacks).

------
userbinator
The fact that the author is essentially thanking Sony for securing devices
against them is something I find a bit baffling, unless it's some deep sarcasm
I'm not seeing, or thanks for not making it _too_ secure.

~~~
Mithaldu
The reason you're not seeing what he means is that you didn't grasp that the
rest of the paragraph explains why he is thanking Sony.

He is thanking them for the opportunity to learn so much.

~~~
yifanlu
Yup, when I hacked the Kindle, it was a weekend's work. It was fun and
challenging work, but not educating as this was.

