PS Vita has been hacked. Per reports, hacker Yifan Lu has found an exploit in Sony’s PS Vita handheld. The new exploit will now allow hackers to develop unapproved applications and even pirate software.

However, Lu is not the first to attempt the hack as his exploit, reportedly, is based on another hacker’s work - the Half-Byte Loader. This hack is the first real one for the Vita, since it launched in December, and allows homebrew on the PlayStation Portable.

Lu, previously, had already cracked the security in Amazon's Kindle devices. Now, he’s appealing for help in creating a Vita homebrew loader. Users, however, can already run PSP homebrew games on PlayStation Vita. This new software would now allow entirely new programs to run on the Vita game code.

Lu, according to a Eurogamer report, has also defended his exploit on Twitter as a response to an indie Vita developer's fears that his exploit would leave an "open door" to piracy. "I apologise, but what can I do about what others may possibly do in the future?," said Lu.

While last generation’s Nintendo DS and PSP were plagued by piracy issues, due to abundant firmware exploits, Sony’s Vita and Nintendo’s 3DS, comparatively, have remained safe from piracy since their respective launches i.e., until now.