For anyone who doesn't know, the Wii auto-update system works like this: When you turn off your Wii, it doesn't turn off completely; instead, it goes into a semi-sleep mode that still connects to the Internet. While the Wii is "off", it automatically downloads and installs updates sent by Nintendo. Rather than spending time waiting for a slow download, not playing games, you could go to bed one night, and wake up to find a new "present" in one of your games, such as a weapon, character, mech, map, and so on. I like the idea, and think it is really cool.
However, I have one major concern about the security of the system. How would they stop hackers from compromising the system? How much damage could a hacker do if he/she sliced into one of Nintendo's servers, and sent an unauthorized "update", such as a virus, a naughty video, or the goatse picture? A virus could ruin many consoles and/or games, and the latter two (especially the third) could scar countless children (as well as teens and adults) for life.
One idea for keeping the system secure is to encrypt updates with a special code, and make the Wii unable to install any updates that do not have said code. This could be forther boosted by making it so that no single Nintendo employee knows the entire code, sort of like what banks do with their vault codes. Post your thoughts on the Wii auto-update and ideas on how to make it more sceure.
However, I have one major concern about the security of the system. How would they stop hackers from compromising the system? How much damage could a hacker do if he/she sliced into one of Nintendo's servers, and sent an unauthorized "update", such as a virus, a naughty video, or the goatse picture? A virus could ruin many consoles and/or games, and the latter two (especially the third) could scar countless children (as well as teens and adults) for life.
One idea for keeping the system secure is to encrypt updates with a special code, and make the Wii unable to install any updates that do not have said code. This could be forther boosted by making it so that no single Nintendo employee knows the entire code, sort of like what banks do with their vault codes. Post your thoughts on the Wii auto-update and ideas on how to make it more sceure.