Nintendo will be giving away up to $20,000 to any hacker who can prove that the 3DS gaming console is not safe from hackers.
The gaming company made the announcement through a HackerOne program.
"Nintendo will pay rewards to the first reporter of qualifying vulnerability information ranging from $100 to $20,000 USD."
How the hacker will be paid will depend on the importance of the information he or she will provide. The company, however, will not say how much each hacker will get.
The intention of Nintendo's bug bounty program is to determine if the 3DS can fall victim to piracy, cheating, and other vulnerabilities. Nintendo also intends to make sure the console cannot be hacked by people who wish to disseminate "inappropriate content to children".
The post further detailed a few examples of "activities that Nintendo is focused on preventing". These include game application dumping, copied game application execution and modification, and save data modification.
Fortune mentions in its report that the Japanese company is aiming to "provide a secure environment for [its] customers so that they can enjoy [its] games and services".
Any personality who participates in the program is subject to some rules to make sure everything remains legal. The hacker is also barred from sharing the information to any third party.
Finally, Nintendo stressed in the HackerOne post that current and former employees along with third-party developers who have worked with the company are barred from entering the contest. Those who still do will not receive any form of compensation from Nintendo.
HackerOne is a bug bounty platform that provides businesses a means to strengthen their security by offering bounties to personalities who can find loopholes in one's system. The San Francisco-based HackerOne is the one of the first companies to enlist the help of hackers making them an integral part of its business model.
The Nintendo 3DS was released back in 2011 though a couple of limited edition 3DS devices were released just last month.
