Malicious Messages on PS4 are Bricking People's Consoles

PlayStation 4 users may want to disconnect the wifi for the time being. There are reports of malicious messages through the PlayStation Network actually bricking their consoles.

A number of organized PlayStation communities online have started noticing a new kind of attack on PS4 users. When attacked, the victim's consoles end up hard locking. The process is the same every time: The user receives a message, their sound stops and controllers fail, and upon resetting, the console is stuck in a continual error loop.

What can affected users do? Some claim that doing a factory reset on the PS4 will fix it, while others claim that the only safe method is to load up the PlayStation messages mobile app or web browser and delete the message through there.

What can YOU do to protect yourself? The simplest way is to change your privacy settings so that only friends (or No One) can send you messages. Just make sure your friends aren't jerks. This is a good idea to do anyway, not just when a rogue text message is roaming the countryside.

As wild as it sounds, this isn't the first time messages have broken technology. Back in 2013, iPhones were faced with the same issue, but with the Indian character "జ్ఞ‌ా". Upon loading this character, the iPhone in question would then crash and reboot. The issue was fixed in a system update not long after its discovery.

Be safe out there.