from Hacker News

Nintendo Launches Vulnerability Rewards Program for Nintendo 3DS

by phwd on 12/6/16, 1:36 AM with 28 comments

  • by Fej on 12/6/16, 7:24 AM

    This is interesting for several reasons:

    - The 3DS is nearing the end of its lifespan. This seems like a way to test the waters. Nintendo's a traditional Japanese company so slow and steady is the name of the game. There's really no financial reason to beef up the 3DS' security as they just had what is, to my knowledge, its last major launch (Pokémon S&M).

    - They're providing an incentive for modders to report their exploits instead of sharing them with the wider community. If they keep their promise, it could really cut back on homebrew and piracy. AFAIK this is unprecedented in gaming. Would definitely help with Nintendo consoles' rampant exploits.

    - Nintendo's software is terrible. Case in point: their web browsers use crappy old versions of WebKit, and when they inevitably get exploited, they patch that particular exploit out and leave the rest of that Swiss cheese open for grabs. I don't think they really have a concept of security. Could it mean a sea change is coming in Switch?

  • by cakebrewery on 12/6/16, 3:25 AM

    It seems a bit late for the Nintendo 3DS. I wonder if it has anything to do with shared code between this and the upcoming Nintendo Switch. Nintendo has a had an amazing year and I'm really glad they're doing this nonetheless.

  • by dovdovdov on 12/6/16, 7:15 AM

    I found one, eShop titles have one key each, meaning once the key goes public, anyone can get the game with it, right from Nintendo's servers, namaste!

    Don't flood me with your monies just yet, Nintendo, rather pay for better devs! ;)

  • by sleepychu on 12/6/16, 2:07 PM

    Interesting post, weird that an article doesn't work if you don't have cookies on (just completely blank)

  • by ythn on 12/6/16, 4:41 PM

    The only incentive I've ever had to jailbreak a 3DS was in order to play region-locked games that were only released in Japan. Why is region-locking still a thing? Why force the most loyal of your customers to buy two consoles - one NA and one JP?

  • by mdrzn on 12/6/16, 3:39 PM

    Does anyone want to talk about the background image behind the title? There are some interesting bugs there.. Can someone grab that .jpg?

  • by throwaway7767 on 12/6/16, 2:30 PM

    Ugh, bug bounties being used for developing stronger DRM. Well, I guess we have to take the bad with the good.