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Symantec has labelled malware Trojan.PSPBrick, as that is what the code essentially renders your console as: an expensive plastic brick.

F-Secure confirms claims that the Trojan deletes key system files from the device's flash memory, causing it to fail to boot in tests in its labs.

The malicious code is aimed at owners that were looking to downgrade the firmware to a version that would allow them to run code of their choice.

Following the discovery of a buffer overflow vulnerability in a screensaver in version 2.0 of Sony's PSP platform, efforts have been made within the 'homebrew' community to create a downgrade patch to the version that allowed easy execution of code.

Sony has taken a dim view of the activity, and anyone caught out by the PSP virus will get short shrift from the company. It says that attempts to modify the firmware voids the warranty of the machine.