It is a WebKit exploit... not PS4.

BTW it is useless too.

Sad story after all these "stability" upgrades...
Well, first it was openssl, now there is webkit... Big software that contains so many lines nobody can handle all potential holes in such big open source software.
Yes, Sony can fix this but expect that there will be a lot more than this.
Btw, piracy is still a big topic in many regions so expect the industry to move more and more to a digital only future.

Having a hacked console these days is lame. New games need latest firmware to work so you can't even play the ones you buy at the store, you're left out of online play and can't even buy games at the online store, not to mention the risk of bricking or having the console blacklisted. You really need a second unit of the same console if you want to hack.

Digital only doesn't prevent piracy in itself. Many steam releases have pirate versions on PC. The more consoles become like PC's the easier it will be to create exploits to pirate games. Until the lower tier countries have consistent high-speed internet Sony won't try always online DRM, which is probably the best anti-piracy measure as of now. The only thing digital only prevents is used game sales, which I guess makes up some loses elsewhere to accomodate for piracy. 

Maybe I misunderstood your statement though. 

When a console is hacked, usually the homebrew community releases "safe updates" in which you can access the features of latest firmware without the risks. The only thing (console) pirates/homebrewers forego is online play, and even then sometimes as long as you have a legitimate copy of the game you can play online with no risks (depending on the platform.) 

Example: In order to use the 3DS's only piracy device you need to have firmware 4.5 or below. However, people are able to play the most recent games like SSB 3DS, because the flash-cart allows the homebrew community to provide the necessary updates. 

It doesn't prevent it but it gives the owners more control over the machine and what it is able to do. Add to this that digital only is definitely an obstacle and not so easy to prevent, given some decent drm and encryption.

You are right that nowadays digital only is still a bit far away but bandwidth will increase and it is definitely what both Sony and MS want (and of course 3rd party).

I think by the time the industry goes fully digital, Sony/Microsoft will no longer exclude non-oem consoles and will provide either streaming services or a sort of software as their platform (a la Steam.) That essentially will make the now closed platforms -- open platforms and it will open up to more piracy, not less. Piracy will probably not be as rewarding though, because games will have more and more online content that depends on centralized servers. Of course, one can always play on "pirate" servers but that will limit install bases extremely. We are seeing more traditionally single-player games like Dark Souls (RPG) (i.e), having more and more online/social interactions, and that will be the death of piracy more than anything else in my opinion. That is a good thing for the homebrewer because it allows fewer obstacles to 'exploit' systems for unique homebrew applications and emulation. Piracy would actually work in the advantage of the publishers/developers, because it would act as single-player demos for players to test out their games and get hooked, and then want more through multiplayer/social content. 

Following the discussion from failoverflow regarding WiiU-hacks there is actually no need for homebrew on consoles anymore.

Especially as new consoles shift more and more to PC like hardware one can easily buy a cheap PC for emulation and stuff. There is no "coolness" factor nowadays to have an open source emulator ported to a console. Leaks nowadays would only lead to piracy and that's it, in my opinion. Not that it wouldn't be nice to have one box to do all your standard gaming stuff where you can also hook in your usb data for a rom or iso folder, though ;)

I am more involved in the handheld homebrew communities, but I guess one can subsitute PC-like with Android/iphone-like in that case. I personally don't see the value now of PC-like consoles even now (other than their exclusives), especially after building a new PC for about $550 (after tax/shipping) that can max (at 1080p) any game released today (with upgradeability and free online), and can play dolphin and pcsxe2 quite flawlessly at better resolutions. Furthermore because PC is an open platform some of my favorite games allow for homebrew mods. Nevertheless, people still find the value in consoles, and I don't think that will end for a while, even if the costs of gaming on PC's become cheaper than consoles. We see with devices like Apple TV, Roku Box, and Amazon Fire TV that some people like closed platforms that give them everything right there and right then as opposed to open platforms that require them to look for the content. I think we might see consoles become more PC-like until they are essentially open-platforms, and then we will have Sony/Microsoft making their own OEM devices that appeal to the console gamer with convenience. Homebrew would probably be something like Android rooting, unlocking your device so that you can download whichever apps/games you choose. 

I hope this eventually leads to pirated games! ARGHH!

I predict sales will explode in Argentina when it happens.