The latest PlayStation Portal system update has patched up an exploit that allowed the handheld to run PSP games offline. Yesterday, we reported that Sony rolled out update 2.0.6 without detailed patch notes, but players noticed improved video quality. Apparently, the firmware update brought more than just “performance improvements.”
PlayStation Portal update patched PSP games exploit after hackers reported it to Sony
It was in February when a group of Google engineers banded together to hack the Portal and get it to run PSP emulator PPSSPP natively on the handheld. Doing so meant that users could play PSP games offline. Google’s cloud vulnerability researcher Andy Nguyen reported his group’s findings online, adding that the exploit didn’t even require fiddling with the hardware itself.
Fast forward to yesterday, when Nguyen announced to his followers that the group of hackers from Google reported the exploit to Sony, and it has now been patched as of the latest firmware update.
As expected, Nguyen was met with criticisms from users who weren’t happy with what he had done. In a follow-up tweet addressing the complaints, Nguyen pointed out if the exploit had simply been released to the public rather than being reported, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference because Sony would have ended up plugging it. “Reporting vs. not reporting is only a few weeks of difference,” he argued.
