Sony has been at the helm of things when it comes to launches and announcements regarding its PlayStation gaming console from the last few months. We have seen the company reveal games that are coming with the PS5 later this year to even completely unveiling the next-generation console’s design in the last few weeks.
Now, this is not to say that such announcements have been unprecedented but they are definitely rare to see. On the other hand, what is rare to see is that a company like Sony launching a bug bounty program which allows hackers to get inside its systems and hack them. Not only that, but the company would also even pay the hackers for finding flaws inside its systems.
Well, Sony has done exactly that with its new announcement of a bug bounty program for its PlayStation lineup where if a bug has been found and reported and if the company finds the report accurate, they will pay a bounty amount to the one that reports this bug. While it sounds surprising to let anyone hack their products, it is actually a win-win situation for the company. Because those who are trying to hack their products are going to so anyways.
So if they are attracted by the bounty amount and report the bug instead of exploiting it then Sony could be saved from a lot of trouble. Also, the amount of money Sony would have to spend on its own team for finding bugs would be allocated to the bug bounty program.
We feel that companies find bug bounty programs cheaper than actually deploying an in-house team for finding bugs. However, it is worth mentioning that Sony’s bug bounty program says that you can’t break the law or use manipulative methods for finding the bugs and be the first person to report the said bug.
