Mr. Serafin - Running Scared
Brakken posts more about the PSP Scene:
You've probably read the news about the "leaked" source code of C+D's CFW onto the Internet. Not only was this a major blow to the PSP homebrew scene, but once again solidifies my position on PS3NEWS and Maxconsole. Yes, both parties along with the famed hacking group Paradox took place in this dubious event. Using comprised accounts PS3NEWS whom is in bed with Paradox gained access to a private server and stole Dark_Alex's Custom Firmware Source code.
"Someone broke into it (we think using the MaxConsole database) and pasted all the files onto PS3NEWS" - Anonymous PSP Developer
These turns of events left a wake of tragedy including Sony getting their hands on the code allowing them to beef up security making it harder for the various CFW Teams to release new versions. It also gave way to various recompilations of custom firmwares that were broken due to the developers not knowing what they were doing which could potentially result in the bricking of many Sony PSP consoles.
Even more disturbing, was a custom firmware that the Russian hacking Team M33 released. This firmware contained a message slamming PS3NEWS for their activities, but little did PS3NEWS know that it was a Trojan horse in deices. After PS3NEWS removed this message the firmware turned into "auto-brick" mode and bricked many of their users PSP consoles. Although, the morality of this tactic might come into question it would of never happened if PS3NEWS wouldn't of participated in stealing and releasing the CFW source code and also fell back to their normal activities of altering scene programs without the consent of their authors.
Most of this information has remained internal, but with the unveiling of my blog various prominent members of the Sony PSP scene have approached me with valuable information to expose PS3NEWS's blatant attack on the PSP scene for monetary gain. After talking with various members of the PSP development scene I'd like to sum of what happened.
First and foremost, after Dark_Alex's alleged retreat from the public PSP scene a group of coders named Team Wildcard started to reverse engineer the 3.40OE CFW in hopes they could deliver their own version. Impressed by their progress they were given the opportunity to get their hands on the original source code via Dark_Alex's consent.
A few days later a member of Team Wildcard noticed that their internal forums had been comprised and were leaked onto PS3NEWS's website. In anger a Team Member of Team Wildcard posted on PS3NEWS calling them out. Furious with these posts and the fact Mr. Serafin decided to leak all of Team Wildcard's source code from their SVN. They posted this on their front page. Outraged as this action Team Wildcard decided the only way to combat the amount of traffic PS3NEWS was getting from this tragic event was to release the source code themselves and to public-ally accuse PS3NEWS of stealing their work.
How did PS3NEWS come to obtain the necessary information to compromise Team Wildcard's forums? The answer is Maxconsole. After an internal investigation into the matter Team Wildcard learned that the account information used to access their forums was supplied to PS3NEWS via a leak in Maxconsole. However, the nature of the leak is questionable. More then likely someone accessed the account information of one of the Wildcard users and obtained his password which sadly was the same one he used in the internal forums. Who could of done such a thing? Well, Team Wildcard speculates it's Paradox who are in league with PS3NEWS and have been since they called themselves PS2OWNZ.
Well, things didn't end here. Due to the fact that PS3NEWS stole internal material that compromised the development (at that time) of the most commonly used custom firmware for the Sony PSP the Russian hacking Team M33 released a new version of the firmware that contained a negative message and the personal contact information for Mr. Serafin the person mainly responsible for the release and promotion of the stolen sou recode. In a dire attempt to save his sites reputation he had his coders alter the message contained in the firmware, but this backfired on him because the firmware was programmed to brick PSP's if the message was altered. Due to Mr. Serafin's illegal activities hundreds of his website visitors had their PSP's broken.
What is even more distrubing about this is the fact that the M33 Firmware, which humoresly needs to be unzipped using the password "_M33_Hate_And_Ban_Leakers_And_Thieves_333_" came with a warning if you're PC's or PSP's web browser cache contained PS3NEWS's site that your PSP would be bricked. Also, Mr. Serafin hex edited the EBOOT file and removed the text about PS3NEWS. By doing this the EBOOT turns into self destruct mode and bricks your PSP. It gets worse. After people reported that the firmware Mr. Serafin altered was bricking their Sony PSP's he deleted the posts or edited them to hide the fact what he had done. Below is a picture of the original TEXT in the file and an excerpt from the M33 Firmware.
================================================== ==================================
A statement about the recent things on the PSP Scene.
================================================== ==================================
We give our support to Team Wilcard and condemn the actions of the leakers/thieves.
As facts are better than words, this program may refuse to work on your system if you:
- Downloaded it from ps3news.
- You are an active member of that forums's page.
- You visit frequently that page.
In last case, and only last case, the problem will be fixed if you delete browser cache of both,
psp and pc, and stop visiting that site.
Other cases of BAN are described in the LICENSE.TXT.
Not respecting the license will bring the PSP to BRICK, because the program will refuse to run.
Sadly, Maxconsole is still compromised which I am told is because of exploits for the current version of VBulletin Zeus is running (VBulletin powers Maxconsole). This is plausible and most likely the reality of the situation, but something still lingers in my mind. What? Well, back in the day Zeus stole some internal modchip code and sold it to a competing company. However, Zeus supporting PS3NEWS is highly unlikely, but the thought still lingers ...
I would like to finish this article by thanking the various members of the Custom Firmware Development Teams who helped with the facts. I am glad they could overlook my foolish mistake of associating Team Noobz with Divineo and wish them the best of luck with their future endeavors. If one lesson is to be learned from this tragic turn of events it's that Maxconsole has and still is comprised and PS3NEWS should not be trusted.
