Possible malware in TB dongles

**BahumatLord** · 04-12-2012,01:07 PM

Quote from TB website

A warning to those considering or having already purchased a True Blue clone: we have previously implemented special anti-clone technology in the True Blue firmware which accurately detects clones and when such a clone is detected, will activate one of several effects at random intervals, such as erasing the internal PS3 HDD

Keep in mind I have a real TB dongle. Last night I was attempting to pull the eboot and param.sfo from Spider-Man Edge Of Time TB disc using Comgenie's file manager. The files were corrupted and unuseable but it took several attempts to pull the files. I tried to turn off my ps3 and it froze. I had to pull the power cord to shut it off.

Today when I turned my PS3 on there were no access lights on the front of the system and the PS3 wouldn't turn on. The power light came on but that was it. I had to go into recovery menu to get anything to come up on screen. Luckily I still had Rebug 3.55.2 on one of my external drives. Everything seems to be working now. I've gone back to TB firmware and checked around and nothing seems to have been deleted.

My question is this - from the quote above does anybody think this could have been one of their anti-clone measures. Again, I have a real TB. I've pulled it apart and checked the PCB board. I'm thinking it was either a false positive or there was a check in place that caught me trying to pull the eboot off of one of their discs. Any thoughts? (I have no interest in getting responses about pro-TB/anti-TB - keep it to the subject at hand)

**twig** · 04-12-2012,01:33 PM

Mind you, I have no hardware (or for that matter software) experience - But I got the pawah of theorycrafting!

I doubt one of the security measures is pulling of eboots and params. Even from their own games wich are prepatched.
Hmm.. Maybe its something to do with using Comgenie to do it, and how ComG does it - Again I doubt it.

How long did you wait before you went to recover mode? I guess you waited a few minutes, which would be odd for it not to give a picture. But it does take a bit of time for my PS3 to turn on. Nothing special, but kinda same load time as the eject trick - At least 10sec after first beep.

How old is your PS3? If I encountered that problem, at first I'd also might suspect the TB for doing shit.
But you being able to go back to the TB firmware and look around makes me think the problem might be with your PS3.
However, after the reinstall the files that could've been deleted, might as well have been re-installed, right?

Hmm..

I think your quote is kinda directed towards the GhayB-King dongles (Sorry for a little anti slur

) as a copy.
The TB clones/look a likes was only able to be updated to 2.3 right?

**No0bZiLLa** · 04-12-2012,01:39 PM

the true blue could have maybe written or changed the flash somehow to make your system not boot. thats what it sounds like to me, a semi brick, and if TB really wanna go down the road of trying to actually brick peoples consoles, i believe it will backfire on them big time. this def sounds like a security measure imho. and it sucks because you have an actual TB. are you on the latest update? the lastest update could have something along the lines that include searching for any tampering going on, but on the other hand, your ps3 could have just spazzed. we really wont know until more people start reporting the same or different problems.

**BahumatLord** · 04-12-2012,01:52 PM

Originally Posted by No0bZiLLa

the true blue could have maybe written or changed the flash somehow to make your system not boot. thats what it sounds like to me, a semi brick, and if TB really wanna go down the road of trying to actually brick peoples consoles, i believe it will backfire on them big time. this def sounds like a security measure imho. and it sucks because you have an actual TB. are you on the latest update? the lastest update could have something along the lines that include searching for any tampering going on, but on the other hand, your ps3 could have just spazzed. we really wont know until more people start reporting the same or different problems.

That's what I was thinking was something in the flash got deleted and I got a semi-brick. It just seemed to match up that I was trying to pull files off of their discs and then it happened. They did say the HD wipe was only 1 of the security measures they implemented. We just don't know the extent of what they've done yet. I'm on whatever version was put out in January. It's not the absolute latest but it's recent enough that all the games work (it's not the one that some dongles are shipping with)

My PS3 was from the Uncharted 2 bundle so it's not as old as many. Haven't put an excessive amount of hours on it so I'm leaning towards the security measures being the problem.

**kte122** · 04-12-2012,01:53 PM

Yeah, I am not having an issue with mine, but with all the shit that has happened between the dongle wars. I will keep an eye on mine incase it starts to act up

**No0bZiLLa** · 04-12-2012,01:56 PM

Originally Posted by BahumatLord

That's what I was thinking was something in the flash got deleted and I got a semi-brick. It just seemed to match up that I was trying to pull files off of their discs and then it happened. They did say the HD wipe was only 1 of the security measures they implemented. We just don't know the extent of what they've done yet. I'm on whatever version was put out in January. It's not the absolute latest but it's recent enough that all the games work (it's not the one that some dongles are shipping with)

My PS3 was from the Uncharted 2 bundle so it's not as old as many. Haven't put an excessive amount of hours on it so I'm leaning towards the security measures being the problem.

yeah im leaning towards a security measure too. specially if that ps3 is pretty new. you better make a dump of 3.55 OFW from your system before it wipes your ps3 clean :P

**BahumatLord** · 04-12-2012,02:06 PM

it's definitely something to keep an eye on and for others to be on the lookout for. For now I'm going to stop trying to pull the files from the TB discs and see if I have any other problems with it

**No0bZiLLa** · 04-12-2012,02:11 PM

Originally Posted by BahumatLord

it's definitely something to keep an eye on and for others to be on the lookout for. For now I'm going to stop trying to pull the files from the TB discs and see if I have any other problems with it

you dont have any way to dump your flash? you should go to 3.55 OFW and dump your flash, thats just a suggestion tho. i def would.

**PatrickBatman** · 04-12-2012,02:22 PM

Pulling eboots from a TRUE BLUE DISC does seem like a security measure they'd implement w/o saying it, because it has to do with them potentially losing money.

**BahumatLord** · 04-12-2012,02:38 PM

Originally Posted by No0bZiLLa

you dont have any way to dump your flash? you should go to 3.55 OFW and dump your flash, thats just a suggestion tho. i def would.

I've got an old dump that I could use if I absolutely had to

Originally Posted by PatrickBatman

Pulling eboots from a TRUE BLUE DISC does seem like a security measure they'd implement w/o saying it, because it has to do with them potentially losing money.

I would have just let things be if the discs were still "officially" for sale. 10 bucks isn't that much for one of the backups. I bought 3 and wouldn't mind doing it agian if there was one I really had to play. Since they're not officially for sale anymore I didn't see the harm in pulling the eboots so they could be patched by our anonymous friend since PARADOX would never do it. Seeing as the files came out corrupted every time I pulled the files they are at least able to identify they're own discs and an extra layer of security on top of the file corruption wouldn't be too far of a stretch for them

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