We've heard all it before, the Playstation 3's hardware is out of this world. To be specific its the heart, the Cell Processor of the PS3 which is the key to its advanced technological edge.

Auckland-based security assessment reports the powerful chip has been used to crack passwords faster than ever. Security researcher Nick Breese is the apparent man behind the report.He supposedly cracked strong eight-character passwords used to protect PDF and Zip files in a few hours.

Previous attempts to crack similar passwords took days to get the same result.

Mr Breese's research comes soon after work by Russian company Elcomsoft to use graphics cards to speed up password cracking.

To give you an idea of how powerful the PS3 processor is; a powerful Intel chip cracks through 10-15 million cycles per second. While the PS3's chip can crack through 1.4 billion cycles per second.

This is apparently all down to the cell chip which has several processing cores. Therefore each one of which could be effectively trying passwords at the same time.

Auckland-based security assessment however states stronger encryption systems, such as those to safeguard web transactions remain safe.

However they didn't comment on whether the Cell Processor was enough to help Sony's PS3 out-sell its rivals in 2008.

Tags : assessment : auckland : cell : intel : nick breese : passwords : PlayStation 3 : processor : security : Sony

Comments

By: Dragonfly

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On: 06:58 Dec 3rd, 2007
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deanogee;37981

However they didn't comment on whether the Cell Processor was enough to help Sony's PS3 out-sell its rivals in 2008.

*laughs* Subtle, deano.

Sad but true though. Power doesn't equal success, or quality.

I think the whole thing is a little ridiculous though. Yes, the PS3 is really, really fancy and technical, and yes, the Cell Processor is very smartly designed, but they make it out to be more than it is.

There are PCs on the market just as powerful.

By: Eturo

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On: 07:15 Dec 3rd, 2007
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Words of Ivory;37985

There are PCs on the market just as powerful.

Really? I'd love to have one of those. My own computer has a "mere" 2 Gigabyte, Dualcore processing memory.

By: Evren

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On: 08:28 Dec 3rd, 2007
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..if we're going to be comparing to PC's...
I hate to say this...
But the PS3 is cheaper.

Now there isn't much I can say the PS3 is cheaper than. But I found one.

By: boa

On: 08:31 Dec 3rd, 2007
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Actually the cell is extremely powerful, hence it's in some very high spec servers and micro super computer things.

By: dragongee

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On: 09:08 Dec 3rd, 2007
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i keep also hear off Sony of course and various articles that the PS3 is being sold at a loss to company.. So people buying the technology and the console are getting a bargin..

By: boa

On: 05:23 Dec 4th, 2007
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This is nothing new. Many of the consoles in the past sold for a loss, at least at first. Software's always been where the money is.

So far as I recall, the Wii was the first console to make a profit from the get go.