No guys, PS Vita keys did not just get “released”

via http://wololo.net/2012/08/03/no-guys...-get-released/

Some scene websites are claiming that “Vita keys” have been released as part of a tool called “PS Vita Tools”. This is pure disinformation, and I will explain why, so you can redirect your friends to this article when they ask if the Vita just got hacked.



Enough people have contacted me about this incorrect piece of news now that I need to write about this, so here goes.

PS Vita .pkg files are encrypted. Before the PS Vita was released, that is, before December 2011, the encryption key used for PS Vita packages was actually the same as the one used for PSP pkg files. That was because the whole thing was a beta. The key has been, since then, changed.

The “Vita keys” being released as part of PS Vita Tools are just these old beta keys as well as psp 6.60 keys, things that have been known for ages (check the PS Vita Dev wiki history for confirmation). These keys are pretty much useless for now. As Deroad, the dev of this utility mentioned, his tool needs the vitakeys. He didn’t say he was providing any new keys, but that his tools needs keys (which we don’t have) in order to decrypt anything. He just provided the ones that are currently known, and that are not really useful (not that the tool in itself isn’t useful, I won’t judge that as I haven’t tried it yet, I’m just saying this release isn’t what some people are making it sound like).

Also, decrypting those .pkg files would just be one step of what’s necessary to run unsigned content on the Vita, so don’t get your hopes too high.

I know it is difficult to understand everything about the scene, I’ve made my own share of mistakes, but it was extremely easy in this case to verify that this information has been available for many months now, so the sites advertising this as “breaking news” or a “Vita keys release” just got their facts completely wrong, and are just losing credibility as trusted sources of information for the Sony scene.

I guess some sites got too excited over the PS3 3.60 keys released yesterday, and assumed the same could happen for any other device as well…

That being said, I took a snapshot of Deroad’s release (source code only), and those interested can download it here.