Last year, Nintendo debutted its HackerOne program that involved giving a bounty of range of $100 - $20,000 to hackers that disclose their system exploits and vulnerabilities for the 3DS. Everyone thought it wouldn't work out for Nintendo, but just around last month the program was extended to include the Nintendo Switch too.

Just recently as you can see in the picture, three people were rewarded so far, however the amounts paid will not be made public. It seems as if a few hackers wouldn't mind giving out their newfound exploits for some easy cash, hopefully for the sake of the Switch hacking scene, it isn't the same with our own resident hackers.

A few examples of what information Nintendo is interested in receiving:

• System vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo Switch
  • Privilege escalation from userland
  • Kernel takeover
  • ARM® TrustZone® takeover
• Vulnerabilities regarding Nintendo-published applications for Nintendo Switch
  • Userland takeover
• System vulnerabilities regarding the Nintendo 3DS family of systems
  • Privilege escalation on ARM® ARM11™ userland
  • ARM11 kernel takeover
  • ARM® ARM9™ userland takeover
  • ARM9 kernel takeover

Source

 

[Arck]

Here's another way to think about it: if Switch hacks are made public too soon and piracy becomes rampant, game companies may be less likely to make games for the Switch, which could lead to its premature death.

(That said, I would still love to see hacks.)

if piracy become a thing for the switch, it'll reduce maybe the number of game selled, but they'll sell more Switch !
Piracy never killed a console anyway

 

[Deleted User]

if piracy become a thing for the switch, it'll reduce maybe the number of game selled, but they'll sell more Switch !
Piracy never killed a console anyway

They killed developers tho.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

So basically snitches that get paid to point out what's wrong. Nothing wrong being a snitch if you believe it's the right thing and it won't harm you or others around you.

 

[Joom]

if piracy become a thing for the switch, it'll reduce maybe the number of game selled, but they'll sell more Switch !
Piracy never killed a console anyway

Not really, and I made this point about the PSP, which still has games coming out.

2017-Feb-02 - AvengeXX_EUR_PSN_PSP-PUSSYCAT

 

[Wiisel]

It's good old ninty protecting the consumer.

 

[gamefan5]

But that's exactly what we don't want "releasing findings early for the sake of a higher bounty" soon as they "leak" there work that will get worked on and will eventually develop into something more which in tern will result to piracy without a doubt on a level that cannot be turned back! tbh I say to "anyone" who buys a console on its release this early hoping or looking through the homebrew & hacking sections for homebrew/piracy are quite honestly very sad and need to get a life! I have said this before I "NEVER" buy a console on the intentions of it being hacked and don't let my signature fool you into thinking just that, I only enjoy that side of the device years down the line when it is something to have a play at but talking about "hacking" with the Switch this early on in its development stage is just plain sad and quite wrong I mean why buy the console in the first instance, just on the off chances of it being hacked early, it just amazes me!. I buy my games to support the developers and the console manufactures so why shouldn't that person be any different, if it happens say 4 - 5 years down the line then what the hell, its pretty much redundant at that stage anyway.

Re read his post again. Because I struggle to see where his post ever disagreed with what you have just typed,

 

[Joom]

Re read his post again. Because I struggle to see where his post ever disagreed with what you have just typed,

I had a hard time perceiving his point as well...

 

[pokemoner2500]

I've said this before and I'll say it now, it may be selfish of me but I don't want the switch to get hacked early (for my own personal reasons), give it 2-3 years that way the system at least has some games.

 

[Reecey]

Re read his post again. Because I struggle to see where his post ever disagreed with what you have just typed,

He made it sound like he was supporting the cause that people should not report there findings on hacking the switch and the fact his Avatar has a pirate face with crosses on his hat tells me a lot! I might of just misunderstood it!

 

[deinonychus71]

Reading some early comments... wow... a wall of shame?

You guys realize that if the switch gets massively hacked too fast it will make third party devs even more hesitant to get on it? It's not all about killing a console or not, it's also when you do it during a product life cycle.
I'm all for homebrew and modding, hell I'd love to undub zelda and get some smash mods working (could actually motivate me to do stuff again...) but let's face it, piracy is a thing and should not be easily achievable so early.
There is next to no legit justification for having "backups" on switch. It's using cartridges (supposely durable) and is region free.

 

[gamefan5]

He made it sound like he was supporting the cause that people should not report there findings on hacking the switch and the fact his Avatar has a pirate face with crosses on his hat tells me a lot!

You need work on your investigative skills.
Because his post was anything but that.

 

[Devin]

But 99% of the "hacking" community wants piracy and the 1% that actually does care about homebrew is either developing for the console or on an android platform.

They still aren't snitches imho.

Snitches just seems to be the keyword that everyone here has picked up on. I would expect a hacking orientated website to not be kind to those that aren't helping their scene. Entitled people who "respect" developers but only if they release things don't deserve things at all. They only care about the end product. (Which like you said Dino. 99% piracy, 1% homebrew. I can't even imagine what homebrew people are hoping for. Emulation of systems you've been able to emulate on a $60 2DS? Or maybe some shoddy PS1 emulation that has the potential to get a little better over time.) While I don't own a Switch anymore and don't necessarily care about it being hacked; I do want it to be. Am I going to piss on the graves of someone who doesn't want that kind of future for the system? At least not so soon? No, because I'm not a child who's upset that mom isn't paying me any attention and instead is paying attention to father Nintendo over there. (I mean he got her flowers and chocolates. Albeit not expensive ones. $20,000 max Nintendo? If someone exploited the system and wanted to market it via Kickstarter or something of the like they'd get way more than that.)

tl;dr Sit down, enjoy your BOTW machine, and wait for someone who doesn't want Nintendo's money.

 

[Reecey]

You need work on your investigative skills.
Because his post was anything but that.

Nevermind I might of just misunderstood it! the comment was good though

 

[Joom]

He made it sound like he was supporting the cause that people should not report there findings on hacking the switch and the fact his Avatar has a pirate face with crosses on his hat tells me a lot! I might of just misunderstood it!

My avatar is the mascot used by Razor1911 from over a decade ago. It's more of an homage to the demo scene.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

They never worked anyway...

Speaking for yourself??

 

[Reecey]

My avatar is the mascot used by Razor1911 from over a decade ago. It's more of an homage to the demo scene.

Good man I'm glad we got it all cleared up

Edit: I was being honest then by the way, in case you might think I was being sarcastic just thought I would say

 

[DinohScene]

Snitches just seems to be the keyword that everyone here has picked up on. I would expect a hacking orientated website to not be kind to those that aren't helping their scene. Entitled people who "respect" developers but only if they release things don't deserve things at all. They only care about the end product. (Which like you said Dino. 99% piracy, 1% homebrew. I can't even imagine what homebrew people are hoping for. Emulation of systems you've been able to emulate on a $60 2DS? Or maybe some shoddy PS1 emulation that has the potential to get a little better over time.) While I don't own a Switch anymore and don't necessarily care about it being hacked; I do want it to be. Am I going to piss on the graves of someone who doesn't want that kind of future for the system? At least not so soon? No, because I'm not a child who's upset that mom isn't paying me any attention and instead is paying attention to father Nintendo over there. (I mean he got her flowers and chocolates. Albeit not expensive ones. $20,000 max Nintendo? If someone exploited the system and wanted to market it via Kickstarter or something of the like they'd get way more than that.)

tl;dr Sit down, enjoy your BOTW machine, and wait for someone who doesn't want Nintendo's money.

The homebrewers and emulator writers of the GCN/Xbox days and Wii days have moved on the the Android platform.
No risk for piracy as it's open source and no tricky hacks.

But yeh, people aren't smart.
They can softmodding, jailbreaking and even call flashcards jailbreaking.
They think they can emulate a system at Day 1 and expect backuploaders within a week.

 

[linuxares]

So... how much did they get paid? I mean the ARM Trustzone Takeover is a big thing.

 

[Deleted User]

So... how much did they get paid? I mean the ARM Trustzone Takeover is a big thing.

Nobody managed to exploit the ARM TrustZone yet so we don't know.

 

[Risingdawn]

My thoughts, this is a great thing. Why, because the quicker Nintendo find an exploit the quicker it's patched. The quicker it's patched the quicker the original exploit will be released to the community.

As long as you're not stupid enough to blindly hit the update button as soon as a "stability" update is released. And if you're too impatient to wait for old fw developments to catch up then you weren't that interested in homebrew in the first place.

Many hackers wait to release an exploit until it's already patched, that way they only target hard-core hack users who aren't that interested in anything else the system has to offer and continue with a (mostly) clean conscience.