The Nintendo Switch comes with its own software, and as is the case with all software and hardware, there are bound to be security vulnerabilities, holes, and exploits that have yet to be uncovered. Nintendo wants to know what they are which is why they have recently launched a bounty program for just that.This will see Nintendo team up with HackerOne in which they are offering hackers rewards of up to $20,000 if they can find a security vulnerability with the Switch. Of course this $20,000 bounty is the max payout and it will range from as low as $100 and go up to $20,000, so safe to say that the flaw needs to be pretty massive for Nintendo to be willing to pay out that much.
According to Nintendo, they are specifically looking for flaws with regards to “System vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo Switch: Privilege escalation from userland, Kernel takeover, and/or ARM® TrustZone® takeover.” They are also looking for “Vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo-published applications for Nintendo Switch: Userland takeover”.
Apparently it seems that Nintendo’s plan has worked because at least three bounties have already been paid out, and we expect that they should be addressed in future patches.
Filed in . Read more about Nintendo, Nintendo Switch and Security.