Sony reveals that it will resolve last weekend’s messaging bug that effectively bricked several PlayStation 4 consoles by releasing a system update to fix the issue.
Last weekend, several PlayStation 4 owners reported that their consoles were rendered useless after receiving a message via the PlayStation Network. Upon opening one of these messages, the PS4 would lock up and players were forced to reset their console to factory settings to regain functionality.
Now, Sony has responded to the issue saying, “We are aware of the situation and are planning a system software update to resolve the problem.” As of the moment, Sony did not reveal why these messages were able to glitch several consoles, but it is expected that a full explanation will be given by the company once the system update is distributed and the patch notes released.
The terrifying thing about this messaging exploit is that several players reported that receiving the message alone is enough to brick the console and force the player to conduct a factory reset. First news of the bug surfaced after a Reddit user encountered it while playing an online match of Rainbow Six: Seige. The Redditor received a suspicious message from a player on the opposing team and their PS4 was instantly glitched upon opening it. Hopefully, Sony will release the system update as soon as possible to prevent other players from encountering the cryptic message.
Network security has been a long-standing problem for Sony as the company struggles to ensure safety with its online services. Although it is still unknown where these messages originated, this isn’t the first time that Sony’s PlayStation Network became vulnerable to attacks. A few years ago several hacker groups threatened to take down both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on Christmas day that resulted in a worldwide log in problem.
To combat hackers and data thieves, Sony introduced a two-step authentication process as a security measure for PSN accounts to prevent cyber attacks from happening once again. Now, it seems that PlayStation messages are becoming the host for these harmful shenanigans and hopefully, the upcoming system update will introduce a permanent fix to the issue.
Until Sony releases a detailed explanation, no one knows whether last weekend’s messaging issue was a cyber attack from hacker groups. As of the moment, players are advised to set their messages to private, to prevent these harmful messages from getting into their consoles.
