According to a Sony, the company has launched a bug bounty program for the PlayStation Network and the PlayStation 4 gaming console.
The program aims to reward security researchers who find bugs in devices and websites PlayStation-related . Researchers must then report their findings to security Sony's team to fix them before cybercriminals can exploit them.
Sony says it plans to give researchers rewards ranging from $100 to $50,000 (or even more) for vulnerabilities found in the company's products.
As we said above, the company is asking security researchers to examine the gaming console, its operating system, official PS4 accessories, as well as the PlayStation Network and related websites.
Sony's new bug bounty program will be managed through HackerOne , a platform that hosts such programs for some of the world's largest companies , including PayPal , Twitter , Snapchat , Shopify , General Motors, Slack, and Uber.
Sony is the latest of the big three gaming companies to announce an official bug bounty program. Nintendo was the first company to launch the program in 2016 , followed by Microsoft for its Xboxin January 2020.
Sony is the latest in line, but it offers the biggest rewards to security researchers, with the highest amount exceeding $50,000. Microsoft and Nintendo are giving out up to $20,000.
Sony has always been concerned about the security of its Playstation and gaming platforms in general. Hackers often target gaming accounts, which they usually hack to use in other scams or sell them online and on hacking forums.
In April, cybercriminals exploited a vulnerability in Nintendo and compromised more than 160,000 user accounts. More recent analysis has shown that the actual number of compromised accounts is as high as 300,000.
