October 24^th, 2005 (1:17pm) - If you own a computer you know about the ever present threat of viruses. You probably have gone out and purchased or downloaded virus protection, trojan protection, ad protection, spyware protection, or any combination of the listed.

Now another danger has been added to the list. Your videogame systems. Yes, even game consoles are under attack by hackers, a security company commented Friday. But although the current batch poses little risk to the average gamer, the next generation may if attackers decide to take on the Internet focused XBox 360.

Panda Software, a computer security company, has reported that over the last several days, it has tracked a trio of Trojans that aimed to reduce the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS into paperweights.

The three pieces of malware (software designed to destroy, aggrivate, and otherwise make life unhappy) -- Format.a, Tahen.a, and Tahen.b -- pose as tools to run unsigned code (games that have been cracked, and then illegally copied) on the PSP or as homemade applications for the Nintendo. When users install them, however, the Trojans overwrite portions of the consoles’ firmware -- the software embedded in the machines) and make then unusable.

"Videogame consoles are not designed for using third-party software," Luis Corrons, the director of Panda’s research labs, said in a statement. "In order for the malicious codes detected so far to reach one of these consoles, users would have to voluntarily run applications from unauthorized sources. Remember that just as with PCs, downloading and running software from dubious sources is always a serious security risk."

Mentioned also is the upcoming Xbox 360. With a great deal of focus dealing with the new version of Xbox Live coupled with the fact that many hackers just don’t like Microsoft; the 360 becomes the next big target.

So in short, be careful what you download.