Sony Awarded a Hacker $50,000 for Privately Reporting a PS5 Exploit He Found With AI — Now He's Public Enemy Number One

A hacker sparked an uproar within the PlayStation 5 homebrew scene for privately reporting an exploit to Sony and cashing in on a $50,000 reward, rather than keeping it confidential for the community.

A hacker who goes by the handle “Jordy” was awarded the bounty from Sony for reporting a vulnerability — found using AI — on the PS5 console. The bug was reported to HackerOne, a site that works with companies to plug issues in their products and services. Essentially, Sony pays hackers to find exploits, then pays them money not to release them until the security hole has been patched.

There wouldn’t normally be anything particularly unusual about a hack being reported to Sony — but in the case of this PS5 exploit, a prominent security engineer discovered it months ago but wanted to hold onto it until GTA 6 launched. Then Jordy discovered it with AI and reported it, triggering the controversy.

The exploit in question is …