PlayStation Portal hackers helped Sony improve product security


The duo who hacked PlayStation Portal to turn the Remote Play screen into PSP have contacted Sony to have the flaw fixed. A nice gesture.

Since its launch, the PlayStation Portal has received a lot of criticism. The reason: wasted potential. While Sony is content to make it a remote play screen for the PS5, others idealize a more autonomous device, likely to become a portable console. This is undoubtedly what motivated Calle Svensson and Andy Nguyen to hack the product to see if it could offer additional features.

The two individuals, Google employees, quickly found a flaw allowing the installation of PPSSPP, considered the best PSP emulator on the market. In other words, they transformed the PlayStation Portal into a console capable of playing games from the first portable console marketed by Sony. But it was more of a technical challenge, rather than a desire to cause harm. Thus, Calle Svensson and Andy Nguyen contacted the multinational so that a security update could be deployed.

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They hack PlayStation Portal to help Sony

“ We have responsibly reported the issue to PlayStation. The flaw is closed in firmware 2.06 “, said Andy Nguyen in a tweet published on April 2. The update in question can already be installed in your PlayStation Portal. It seems mandatory to be able to use the product, which seems logical from a security point of view.

Criticized because of this decision which does not suit those who would like to easily hack the PlayStation Portal, Andy Nguyen justified himself: “ I don’t understand why you are protesting. If we had made our hack public, do you think Sony would have done nothing? To say it or not to say it is only a matter of weeks. »

PlayStation Portal // Source: Thomas Ancelle for Numerama
The PlayStation Portal // Source: Thomas Ancelle for Numerama

Andy Nguyen never made it clear that his PlayStation Portal hack would be made available to everyone. This would be inconsistent with his work: he is a cloud vulnerability researcher for Google. He therefore spends his time looking for breaches so that he can correct them. Calle Svensson, his friend, is also a security engineer. They only helped Sony, apparently on a voluntary basis.

Of course, other hackers may go looking for new vulnerabilities to exploit. And perhaps they will have less scruples than Calle Svensson and Andy Nguyen to allow all owners to benefit. This will not change the root of the problem: within the framework of legal use, the PlayStation Portal remains far too limited.

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