Downloading Nintendo Switch pirated games will be impossible soon
Thousands of videogame console users won’t like this news. Ethical hacking specialists report that the US’s High Court has decided that Internet service providers in British territory should help Nintendo to combat piracy, limiting access to websites of pirated and potentially malicious content.
The authorities, just like the video game developer, hope that this measure will help limit the ability of hackers to distribute pirated versions of such software, as well as assist in the fight against malware distribution through these illegal sites.
“The company is trying to push a new ‘Zero
Tolerance’ policy on piracy, taking the case to the court and forcing Internet
service providers to help Nintendo,” ethical hacking specialists say. The Nintendo
Switch console has become one of the hackers’ favorite targets; whether
to download games illegally or to inject malware into the devices of
unsuspecting gamers, multiple threat actors have tried to find various ways to
breach the security of the portable console.
The High Court ruling, for now only applicable
to the top five Internet service providers in the UK, forces companies to take
a proactive stance in combating piracy, blocking access to major pirated video
game distribution websites.
Although authorities and entertainment software
developers are aware that this measure will not solve the problem, it could
impact hackers’ piracy distribution capability. The High Court has already
resolved the ruling, now it remains for companies (Virgin Media, Talk Talk, EE,
Sky Broadband and BT) to implement the necessary actions to comply with the
court order.
Ethical hacking specialists mention that this
is a clear example of how a major company can influence a country’s legislative
agenda to implement measures against malicious users that put their users at
risk and, of course, their incomes.
This is not the first time British lawmakers
have tried to use Internet service providers in the fight against piracy. In
2017, a bill was passed that conditioned companies to alert via email users of
these sites about the potential risks of downloading pirated content. However,
this only caused users to turn to websites that were not blacklisted by the
British authorities, something that many fear may also happen on this occasion.
Specialists in ethical hacking at the
International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) claim that, due to its
popularity, hackers are constantly working to find vulnerabilities in Nintendo
Switch. A clear example is the release of the latest version of the console
firmware, which was hacked the same day it was released. The hackers managed to
compromise Switch firmware version 7.0.0 just four hours after Nintendo made it
available.
Gloss