There’s a hardware exploit that’s possible on every single publicly available Nintendo Switch. It’s one that’s baked into the Nvidia-based Tegra X1 platform that powers Nintendo’s new system, so it’s not one that can be patched. That’s nearly 15 million Switch’s that could be used to enable not just hombre, put also potentially enable piracy.
If that’s something you’ve considered doing with the Switch, you may want to reconsider. Apparently, Nintendo has started dealing with the situation in the only way that’s available to them right now; they’re banning Switch hackers from accessing online services.
The information comes the way of one such hacker, Shiny Quagsire, who is a member of a Switch Homebrew community. Their Switch has had online access restricted, barring access to the eShop, online games, and anything else on the system that uses an internet connection.
What makes the ban interesting is that this specific system hasn’t been hacked, which means that Nintendo’s bans are at the account level, or they’ve done work in tracking the user info from one Switch to another.
There’s a still a lot more information that needs to come out of this, but for now (and honestly, for always), the take away here should be: Don’t hack your Switch.
Last Updated: May 22, 2018
