This is an interesting turn of events.  Both of Sony’s current consoles have been fully compromised with their private keys exposed, allowing just about anyone to sign any piece of software to run on the PS3 and the PSP.  Homebrew anyone?

For the PS3 side, team fail0verflow takes the credit for cracking the security keys and geohot for sharing them (errm sharing?) and Mathieulh for the KIRK encryption/decryption keys on the PSP side.

What does this mean?  For one thing homebrew developers will now be able to develop functional apps (like XMBC), custom firmware, plugins, etc and be able to sign and install them on the PS3 and PSP bypassing all security measures.  This is a boon for PSP Go and PSP-3000 (or not hackable PSPs) as we’re bound to see full versions of the current custom firmware available instead of relying on a savedata exploit and HBL.  On the downside, it’ll enable people to “cheat” on multiplayer games :/.  Also with the keys allowing to sign everything but the kitchen sink, iso loaders are also a possibility (if not an inevitability).

Still, it’s a great way to start the year… unless you’re Sony 🙂