Sony has released its bug bounty program for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Network. It’s a rewards system for researchers or those who find a bug in Sony’s PlayStation-related devices and report it to the company, so they can fix it before it explodes. According to the company’s blog post, the bug bounty program or vulnerability bounty program was initially closed only to researchers but has now been opened to the public. It is being managed through Hackerone, which is known for hosting these programs for other large companies. With this, Sony joins Nintendo and Microsoft, which previously started their own bug bounty program.
Sony made the announcement on its Blog stating: “We believe that by working with the security research community we can offer a safer place to play. We’ve partnered with HackerOne to help run this program, and we’re inviting the security research community, gamers, and anyone else to test the security of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Network. ”
According to him details Mentioned in Hackerone, Sony offers multiple reward denominations depending on the error. In the case of PlayStation Network, low-risk errors come with a reward of $ 100 (approximately Rs. 7,600), medium risk errors have a reward of $ 400 (approximately Rs. 30,300), high-risk errors have a reward of $ 1,000 (approximately Rs. 75,600), and critical errors have a reward of $ 3,000 (approximately Rs. 2.26 lakh). In the case of PlayStation 4, low risk errors get a reward of $ 500 (approximately Rs. 37,800), medium risk errors get $ 2,500 (approximately Rs. 1.8 lakh), high risk errors get $ 10,000 (approximately Rs. 7.6 lakh), and critical error reports fetch a whopping $ 50,000 (approximately Rs. 37.8 lakh). Sony offers the highest maximum reward compared to Microsoft and Nintendo, which offer a maximum of $ 20,000 (approximately Rs. 15.1 lakh).
Errors may also be related to the PlayStation operating system and its accessories. The operating system includes the beta version or the current version of the system software.
Sony states that PlayStation in its sole discretion will determine whether or not a reward should be rewarded. And, the reported bug or vulnerability must be new and not previously reported. “The amounts of the rewards will differ based on the severity of the vulnerability and the quality of the report. Sony will only award a reward to the first researcher who has reported a previously unreported vulnerability, ”states the HackerOne page.
To remember, Microsoft started its bug bounty program in late January of this year. Your rewards start at $ 500 for low-risk bug discovery and up to $ 20,000 for critical bugs.
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