Level 8
Hello Everyone.
I have a word of warning for those of you who are using the Uniquez-Home DNS.
Here’s some background:
Uniquez-Home is a renown Home/PSN/PS3 hacking and glitching site. Its aim is to provide its members with the information that cannot be given here. A while ago Uniquez established a public DNS which redirects Home traffic to their servers before sending it to SCE. This has allowed them to provide services such as the custom boom box music and more recently, the anti-freeze.
The anti-freeze has become more popular since more and more servers being frozen by attention seeking miscreants. For those of you who don’t know the “freeze” is where someone causing everyone in a instance (or server) to basically freeze unless your in your wardrobe. The actual method for freezing will not be discussed here but I will say it involves merging head items and costumes/outfits. What the anti-freeze does is redirect the Home traffic to a server running apache and acting as a proxy and blocking certain costumes from loading. It’s a fairly simple configuration which achieves its goal. SCE is currently working on patching this freeze but until then people will continue to use the Uniquez DNS to save having to hard-reboot their consoles.
This post is not to criticise Uniquez or to make accusations, I just believe people need to know the risks in using untrustworthy services, especially DNS. I say untrustworthy because Uniquez is not transparent in their operations and it is unclear what they actually are doing behind the scenes. Also if you ask too many questions you should be prepared to be attacked and banned from their site.
So what is DNS and what can it do?
Well DNS stands for Domain Name System. A domain is something like “playstation.com” or “google.com”. But the Internet does not work on domains per se. The Internet uses IP addresses, like 216.239.51.99. DNS allows a domain to point to an IP address because these numbers can be hard to remember. So with DNS instead of typing 216.239.51.99 to get to Google, we can just type google.com. Because DNS knows google.com=216.239.51.99.
Who ever manages a particular DNS can control which domain and IP address go together. DNS is a very powerful tool and in the wrong hands it can be dangerous. Respectable DNS servers such as those of your ISP, Google, OpenDNS, Symantec or the roots will always have the correct IP address lined to the domain. But other DNS servers hosted by third parties may not always have this. Using an unrespectable DNS exposes you to many security issues, in particular pharming. Pharming is an attack intended to redirect a website's traffic to another, bogus site.
So for example, if you’re using an untrusted DNS, when you type google.com in your browser, the DNS will take you to 100.100.100.100(fake) not 216.239.51.99(real). This is because who ever manages the DNS has told it to take all traffic to google.com and send it to 100.100.100.100.
So what a potential hacker might do is create a fake or bogus site which looks and feels exactly like the real one. When you click to sign in (say they made a fake Facebook for example) you will enter your username and password as usual, BUT the site will take those credentials and send them to the hacker, then take you to the real site and autolog you on with the credentials you provided. It’s seamless and most of the time you won’t know its happening or has happened until someone drains your bank account or steals your identity.
Pharming and Phishing are two very serious personal security concerns and you should never open yourselves up to being vulnerable to these attacks.
So what does it have to do with Uniquez?
Uniquez is a hacking site. It’s known for “hacking” peoples PSN accounts and causing trouble for people on and off PlayStation Network. It is possible, however unlikely, that they will see this opportunity to steal peoples details and take it. They are a notorious bunch who will do what ever they want, so it all comes down to how much you can trust them to do the right thing. In the online world trust is something you should not give lightly.
Now I’m not saying don’t use Uniquez’s DNS, but I’m not endorsing it either. The anti-freeze is a good service – so the DNS has its benefits for PlayStation Home use ONLY. If you do use it I’d strongly recommend you take it off when not on Home. Not because Uniquez are Pharming, but they do have opportunity and means which makes it a valid possibility that they could be. Especially if you use the PS3 web browser - don’t use any potentially poisonous DNS as your primary or secondary servers. It's not worth the risk.
I raised this with them yesterday and I got myself banned from their site (along with every IP address I used to access it lol) for doing so. Their reasoning was “Talking trash cliaming we are using DNS to steal facebook password. Wanna do some propper research 1st. This ban is not set to expire.” (I couldn’t help but laugh at their fearless leader's bad spelling).
So I'm posting this here to let you all know the potential risks.
Level 6
Hey man, I'm glad someone was able to string together such a well written piece on the joys and risks of using a private DNS service. And in spite of what happened to you, you kept a very level head and gave them the benefit of a doubt in writing even though you probably really wanted to run your mouth 
so Bravo for that!!
I'd like to point out 3 other things, not specific to Uniquez but would help anyone using their service become a bit more self aware:
Point 1: You are not a number! You are a human being! You are...UNIQUEZ!!!11
Check your human rights. You're entitled to ask questions and contest any ideas in a free world or society. If a group is going to deny you that basic right and in turn infringe even more of your rights for simply asking something then should you really be dealing with them? I mean, if this was Google or Facebook, wouldn't it be front page news??
Point 2: hax0r agreement = no agreement
The ISE (Item Server Exploit) breaches many parts of your EULA and Terms & Conditions for PS3, SEN, and PlayStation Home. Usually in order to use such a service from a 3rd party you open yourself up to being abused by data theft so again don't get complacent with your new found wealth of items. Any group offering a service that breaches the trust of their supplier is more than capable of breaching your trust as well.
Point 3: FREE ITEM EXPLOIT..Y U NO FREE?? 
Lastly, the items you are paying for were supposed to be offered FOR FREE. One could argue any fees you are paying are for the service provided and not the items. But a heads up - this service is possible to set up given time and research FOR FREE AS WELL. This isn't being done by a commercial server host or rental company, this is a service being offered to you by a bunch of schoolkids using a machine they didn't pay for, and a connection to the Internet they again probably didn't pay for. You are just giving them pocket money to buy the clothes you ideally wanted to buy for yourself, or to go out and buy the ciggies and booze and pretend to their mates their existence means something. So before you hand over any money, ask yourself if it's even worth the pitiful 5-10 pounds. AND, if you really MUST have this, be sure the person you are paying is the main provider of the service NOT a splinter member or existing recruit.
TO ANY EXPLOIT GROUPS CHARGING USERS OR OFFERING GATEWAY SERVICES
It pays to be transparent. I heard of groups that were considered honourable people that simply offered these exploits out for nominal fees and left it at that. From my knowledge of the groups still around offering these services..either they've been hijacked by new members or have completely lost touch with reality, what the true nature of their operations really pertains, and how important transparency is with any of your "customers".
Level 6
Level 8
If you read my post I was warning people about using potentially poisonous DNS servers, such as but not limited too, the one Uniquez has available.
This post was not about hacking, glitching, or exploiting home.
It's also interesting that you created that account especially for posting in this thread...
Level 6
Just a quick question.
A friend of mine is trying to report someone at the moment for doing the freeze glitch in the bowling alley. She can't stay in there long enough to actually report this person because he keeps doing the glitch.
I checked this site but there's no option for reporting this glitch because home isn't listed as a game.
https://secure.eu.playstation.com/ps3/support/grie
Any help would be much appreciated.
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