A new Trojan horse claims to help make PlayStation Portable run homegrown software, but instead the malicious code turns Sony"s game player into a useless "brick." The malicious program, which Symantec has labeled "Trojan.PSPBrick," is aimed at a crowd of "modders," or people who seek to hack the portable device so that it can run custom code and official game cartridges.
The new Trojan claims to be software that can roll back a Sony upgrade that has made the device harder to hack. When people install it, the malicious software actually deletes key files and renders the PSP inoperable. "Basically the (PSP) is completely inoperable, and you"ve lost your device," said Eric Chien, the principal software engineer at Symantec Security Response. "It"s called "bricking." However, Chien said the program is not likely to affect a wide audience, because most PSP owners aren"t looking to alter their machines.