(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The U.S. Customs Enforcement Cyber Crimes Center (C3) has begun using Sony consoles running Linux to solve child pornography cases.

Federal officials have put the PS3 to work breaking passwords on computer equipment confiscated from suspected child pornographers. according to a story released on the Scripps Howard Foundation wire.

Though they aren't using the new PS3 Slim (since you can't install Linux on the new models) purchasing 20 old PS3 units is still about $8,000 cheaper than the Dell servers C3 had used previously. The unorthodox console approach has been so effective that agents are scouring eBay to find the best deal on another 40 consoles to round out their collection.

"Bad guys are encrypting their stuff now, so we need a methodology of hacking on that to try to break passwords," Claude E. Davenport, an agent in the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Cyber Crimes Center, told the Scripps reporter. "The Playstation 3 - its processing component - is perfect for large-scale library attacks."

Agents need computing power to break these codes because while a search warrant allows them to seize incriminating documents or digital evidence, the Fourth Amendment grants suspects the right to withhold their password information. To crack the code (there are over 280 trillian possible strings in a six-character alphanumeric password) C3 needs the processing power of about $11,000 worth of computers, which is now being provided by a network of PS3 consoles at a quarter of the cost.

Source

    [url=https://www.gamepro.com/article/news/212992/federal-government-using-ps3-to-crack-pedophile-passwords/]Federal government using PS3 to crack pedophile passwords, News from GamePro[/url]

You have to be kidding me! They are smart, the PS3 currently has 7 cores in it, that is way more than the average computer, right now the top computers you can buy have quad cores but the ps3 has 7 although only 5 are working that is way more power!

And yes that is a great idea, buy all the ps3s off ebay then write the government a letter telling them you have all the ps3s they need and then charge them more to buy them off you haha!! :p

1. Buy old PS3s
2. Write Government
3. ??????
4. Profit? :derp:

About time! Let's see a 360 fanboy 1up us now =D

The 360 players know that ps3 is much more powerful system

hurray for ps3 !

they can only do this to ps3s with a certain firmware. So they need to find the ones that allow linux

See that's funny look at how only PS3 user's have posted in this thread , also this is not new this has been going on for about 2 year's, it's been used to crack, Bank's and so on, and it's been studied in Uni. I have seen this on a forum I use, (I'm not able to say) and know that PS3 has been use for some time to hack in to thing's. (And before people ask for the forum for proof, I can't I have signed an NDA).




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I have actually seen them in use for this purpose