If you are a PS3 gamer and you have a Playstation Network account, you are no doubt aware of how the folks over at Sony are dealing with a bit of a security "snafu." And that's putting it lightly. In no way is what is happening over there as delightful or whimsical as my word choice may imply.
Here's a link to an article about the whole ordeal. But in case you don't want to read through that, here's the situation in a nutshell:
In mid-April, hackers breached Playstation Network (PSN) security, leaving millions of accounts exposed and ripe for the picking. Though Sony sent users an email and has been regularly issuing statements saying that they have no proof that information has indeed been taken, this means that potentially millions of account names, passwords, birthdays, addresses, security Q & As and credit card information have been acquired.
Potentially? Um, no. More like definitely. And just how do I know this?
Because I woke up this morning to a phone call informing me that $500 had been taken from my bank account.
The call I got was from my card's theft prevention department. They wanted to verify that all the transactions made were mine. It's a call I've received before for a different card, but in that case, all of the charges were indeed mine and there was nothing sinister going on. I just assumed that this call would be more of the same, and I chuckled to myself thinking "Ah, so my last purchase of 2 spools of thread from Joann fabrics looks suspicious, does it?"
Yeah, I stopped mentally chuckling and started mentally swearing when I heard the automated message recite "$500 ATM withdrawal attempted." Then I fell to my knees, raised clenched fists to the ceiling and cursed Playstation.
"A pox! A pox on both your houses!" (the hacker and house of Sony, that is).
Hearing that it was merely "attempted" gave me some renewed hope that maybe my account was okay after all. Upon checking my bank account, however, I realized that "attempted" really meant "Yeah, they succeeded. Oh, and they got away with it, too. Sucks to be you."
California? WTF?!
I took the appropriate steps of reported that charge as theft, then I canceled my card. I changed the email password that my PSN account was linked to, and I would have changed my PSN password as well only the PSN has of course been down ever since this debacle. I also called up Sony in order to report to them that my credit card information (AND MONEY) had been stolen.
Finding a number to contact Sony was oddly taxing, but I did find it eventually (1-800-345-SONY, in case any other poor souls out there might need it). Once I had been connected with someone, I told them what had happened and assured them that I was positive that this was a result of the PSN security breach. The response I got was essentially a recitation of the original email that the PSN people sent late-April (and just as a semi-amusing side note, the guy kept losing his place while he was reading--like listening to a 4th grade book report, it was). So all he really said was that although someone hacked through their security, there is no proof that credit card information was taken, but playstation users should remain ever vigilant. That's it.
No proof? Tell that to my bank account. My sad and yet furious bank account.
Honestly, I don't exactly doubt them. There might not be any definitive proof that the theft was a result of the PSN breach, but lack of proof doesn't mean a lack of a connection either. Of course, there are any number of incredibly devious ways in which my information could have been illegally obtained--I don't doubt that. But I try to be as careful as I possibly can (I definitely don't give out that information like candy), and the timing seems a bit suspect.
If you have a PSN account, even if you've just checked your bank account and credit cards and all seems well, I would HIGHLY encourage you to change your cards, get new pins, etc. It may be an inconvenience, but better safe than sorry. And by sorry, I mean out $500 (or more).
And if you're like me and you've suffered the same misfortune, don't forget to give Sony a call too. They'll probably just give you the same spiel they gave me, but it's better that they know how many people have fallen victim as a result of the breach of their not-so-secure security.
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