PlayStation has introduced a way for gamers to be an integral part of its security defense system, by opening up the Bug Bounty program to everyone. Anyone with a technical eye for spotting security breaches will be rewarded handsomely for their detective work by partner, HackerOne.
Senior Director of Software Engineering at SIE, Geoff Norton announced PlayStation’s Bug Bounty partnership with HackerOne would now be open to the gaming community. Before highlighting their top bounty of $50,000, Norton stressed the importance of “providing gamers all over the world with great experiences” as he spoke about product security being a crucial part of supplying top-tier gaming. Norton further prioritized their goal of customer safety by stating, “We believe that through working with the security research community we can deliver a safer place to play.”
Releasing its statement yesterday, PlayStation has turned its once private endeavor completely public, inviting gamers with extensive or limited hacking experience to hunt down security weaknesses within the Playstation 4 and PlayStation Network. Their offer of a combined and well paid effort to go bug hunting with the tycoons was met with mixed responses from their community. While some praised their commitment to providing the best and safest experience for gamers, others were disgruntled by PlayStation and HackerOne’s pitch for customers to do their work for them, despite the healthy rewards.
A list of HackerOne’s policies for the Bug Bounty program can be found here.
HackerOne has paid an enormous $82m to hackers for detecting over 150,000 weaknesses since their launch in 2012. Last year alone they awarded $40m in bug bounties to white hat hackers, making them instant millionaires. They paid out their first $1m bounty in 2018 and rewarded a further seven hackers with the same jackpot in 2019.
In another console competition, Xbox launched their Bounty program at the start of the year, offering payment between $500 to $20,000 for security weaknesses discovered on Xbox Live. However, Microsoft’s highest payout is considerably less than PlayStation and HackerOne’s $50,000.
PlayStation’s Bug Bounty program is certainly a commendable opportunity for more tech savvy gamers to show their quality and be a crucial part of the security defense team. Should your average hacker be allowed to participate? Or should the quiet workings of bug hunting stay behind closed doors?
Source: PlayStation
