The internet is home to an endless amount of trolls and here is yet another story of their misadventures. According to IGN, PS4 users are reporting that a malicious message is being spread that causes the device to enter an infinite crash loop. Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself from this attack.
A Reddit thread on the issue first appeared 2 days ago where u/Huntstark details how in the midst of playing Rainbow Six: Siege, a player from the opposing team sent him a message from a dummy account that instantly put his PS4 into an endless crash loop.
The message contains a combination of characters that the PS4 can’t process correctly, which causes the device to malfunction. In this case, it appears to be the word “juegas,” which means “to play” in Spanish, immediately followed by a heart emoji. Here’s a screenshot of the message from Huntstark’s friend who also received it.
Players don’t even have to open the message for the bug to take effect, meaning your device can get bricked immediately upon receiving it.
The best way to protect your device is to adjust your messaging options so that you only receive them from friends or don’t receive them at all. Here’s how to do that:
If you’ve been already been affected by the exploit, Sony has revealed a workaround that they posted on their official Twitter account. Here’s the steps you need to take to remove yourself from the endless crashing.
We've since fixed the issue, and it wasn't bricking consoles, just sending them into a crash loop that can be quickly fixed in under 5 minutes. Delete the message on the PS mobile app, go into Safe Mode, use Option 5, console back to normal. ^DB
— Ask PlayStation UK (@AskPS_UK) October 15, 2018
In that same Twitter conversation, @JustMcDermott asked whether Sony will be issuing bans for players involved in the distribution of these malicious messages, to which Sony UK did not provide a solid response.
Unfortunately we don't have any info on this as we are not part of the moderation team. You can however report players by following the steps here: https://t.co/4vU7A35mVU ^MM
— Ask PlayStation UK (@AskPS_UK) October 15, 2018
Given that Trigz34th and bj19501067bj, the two players who sent out messages in u/Huntstark’s original post, managed to climb to diamond level on Rainbow Six and haven’t been banned yet, Sony seriously needs to pick up the pace with dealing with players who have been abusing this exploit.
Featured Image Source: Archyworldys
