PSP Trojan found in wild

PSPBrick will make your PSP a heavy paperweight

7 October 2005 11:13 GMT / By Stuart Miles

The first Sony PSP Trojan has been found in the wild, prompting experts to warn gamers to think twice before they download applications and content for their new handheld console.

Security researchers have detected the first malware for Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP).

The Trojan hides itself in a download that promises to downgrade the consoles firmware so gamers can install homebrew software to load and play illegal games. However instead of installing the correct firmware, the software deletes important system files and renders the device unbootable.

Security firm F-Secure has analysed and confirmed the report. Symantec refers to the exploit as Trojan.PSPBrick and labels it as a category 1 threat, the lowest level on its five-step scale as it does not spread to other devices.
The Trojan seems to be more successful because of the popularity of a new crack will replace the handheld's firmware with an earlier version that contains fewer anti-piracy features.

The software will revert the PSP firmware back to 1.5 and replace the current version 2 system that shipped with PSP's sold in Europe.

Instructions were given on a PSP website called PSP updates dedicated to following news about the console.

By following a series of instructions, users can then revert back to the previous firmware to run homebrew software on the console.

According to comments made one of the websites detailing the crack you will be able to upgrade back to version 2 if you don't like the original version.

Aside from tightening the consoles security holes, Firmware 2.0 also brought a host of new features to the console including a web browser and support for new media types including iTunes' AAC (part of MPEG 4) and Sony's ATRAC 3 Plus.

Full tags

Gaming, PSP, Gaming hardware, Sony