Homebrew developers have released a custom firmware that sees the OtherOS function restored to PlayStation 3 consoles, just over a year after Sony removed the feature.
A team of developers have released OtherOS++, describing it as “one small step for devs, one giant kick in the nuts for Sony.” The firmware allows a far greater level of control over the system than that originally allowed by Sony, with full access to the system’s innards. However, it can only be installed on consoles that are running older firmware versions.
Sony pulled OtherOS – which allowed users to install an alternative operating system to a small partition of the system’s internal hard drive – in a firmware update last April, in response to iPhone hacker George “Geohot” Hotz having used Linux to breach PS3 security.
The firm’s forced removal of the feature is frequently cited by hackers as the reason they took such interest in PS3 security, resulting in the hacking group fail0verflow and Hotz hacking the system wide open late last year.
Both fail0verflow and Hotz were hit with lawsuits for their actions – the latter and Sony finally settling out of court last month – and Sony, too, has been the subject of legal action, facing an ongoing class-action suit in the US over its removal of OtherOS.
The “hacktivist” group Anonymous also cited the removal of OtherOS – along with Sony’s treatment of Hotz and fellow hackers – as reason for its recent attack on Sony’s network infrastructure, though the group says it has now ceased operations against Sony after a backlash from disgruntled PS3 users.