So, that PSN outage? That’s been going on for a week? Yeah, it’s because user personal information got hacked.
That sounds a lot more dire than it actually is. First of all, the key piece of data is your Social Security number, which PSN does not collect. The rest is stuff pretty much everybody has already: your name, address, etc. Yes, hackers may have your credit card number…but that’s no big deal, as you aren’t responsible for fraudulent charges on your card. Just keep an eye on the credit card you tied to the PSN network, and report any suspicious activity…something you really should have been doing anyway.
The shutdown is so that Sony can rebuild the network to be a lot more secure than it was, and hopefully protect everyone’s information.
As for who’s responsible, Anonymous denies it was them, which doesn’t really mean much since it’s not exactly a top-down hierarchal structure over there. Odds are pretty good it was somebody upset over the whole Geohot slapfight, though.
Beyond that, can everybody just have a nice tall glass of STFU and calm down about this?
Look, Sony did screw up. Did I, as a PS3 owner, want to know that user personal information may have been compromised right away? Hell yes. They should have told everyone immediately.
And, if you’re the kind of person who lives for online multiplayer, I can understand the revelation that you really need to get out of the house is uncomfortable. Still, we’re firmly in the realm of “first world problems” here; not being able to play “SOCOM 4” is not a big deal. Ars Technica shouldn’t be disguising a gamer hissy fit as a serious legal discussion because you have to have a friend over to play “Portal 2”. Were people really “hurt” by this, Ars? Seriously?
Let’s consider something important here…namely that the PlayStation Network is free, it’s going to keep being free, and that we’ll probably get something pretty cool for free out of this.
Yes, our toy is broken, but let’s try and be at least somewhat mature about it, OK?
[ via the level heads at Geekosystem ]