New security measure from Nintendo 'perfectly prevents' digital piracy on the Switch
Platform holder permanently bans consoles with pirated games following reveal of unpatchable hardware exploit
Nintendo has implemented new anti-piracy measures that are reportedly able to "perfectly detect" whether a digital copy of a game has been purchases legitimately.
The new measures come just a few months after an unpatchable hardware exploit left the Nintendo Switch completely exposed, and facing a potential security nightmare.
However, Nintendo is now cracking down on illegal downloads, and users with pirated software will see their console permanently banned from Nintendo's network.
Reddit user SciresM, who offered a detailed breakdown of Nintendo's new security measures, urged others not to pirate games as it will lead to their console getting banned.
"Nintendo can detect whether or not the user connecting has data from a Nintendo-authorized gamecard for the correct title," SciresM explained. "This solves the 3DS-era issue of gamecard header data being shared between games.
"Additionally, there's a fair amount of other, unknown (encrypted) data in a certificate being uploaded -- and certificates are also linked to Nintendo Accounts when gold points are redeemed. Sharing of certificates should be fairly detectable, for Nintendo.
"In the digital game case, Nintendo actually perfectly prevents online piracy here. Tickets cannot be forged, and Nintendo can verify that the device ID in the ticket matches the device ID for the client cert connecting (banning on a mismatch), as well as that the account ID for the ticket matches the Nintendo Account authorising to log in.
"Users who pirate games definitionally cannot have well-signed tickets for their consoles, and thus cannot connect online without getting an immediate ban -- this is exactly how I would have implemented authorization for digital games, if I were them."