Nintendo Switch Security Vulnerability Will Earn You $20K, If You Find One

Nintendo Switch is currently in the bug bounty program for security vulnerabilities. Nintendo is putting their 2017 flagship away from exploits by offering hackers bucks for security vulnerabilities. It can also be remembered that Nintendo 3DS is under this program which was released December last year.

To put it simply, Nintendo encourages hackers to hack the Nintendo Switch and will give them rewards if they found something big. The bug bounty program is exclusive only for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS platforms. Rewards that are given are considered when the security vulnerability has a great impact on the company. The amount of reward will be based on the severity of the threat and is ranged from $100 to $20,000. This is a great strategy to prevent future losses for the company.

The program is available through HackerOne. Nintendo has specifically stated the fish that they want to be caught. Exploits that could enable Piracy, cheating, and dissemination of inappropriate content to children. But they are not limiting the information that they want from these. The company stated that they are interested in receiving information about System vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo Switch (like Kernel Takeover and privilege escalation from userland), system vulnerabilities from Nintendo 3DS, and any vulnerabilities from Nintendo-published applications from both of these platforms.

Hackers might want to consider poking into Nintendo Switch's hidden internet browser withing the console's code, as Eurogamer suggested. If exploits became successful for the hackers, they will be given rewards so it is a win-win situation for both of the parties. As of now, there are only 3 individuals who were paid by Nintendo since the start of this project.

It seems like Nintendo is trying to avoid the repeat Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo Classic Mini security breaches from happening to Nintendo Switch. It can be remembered that hackers are able to put pirated games on Nintendo Classic Mini, and obviously, Nintendo is not happy with that.