Last month, I had bought a Sony PlayStation 3. With the PlayStation 3 having been released in 2006, buying a seven-year-old video game system might make it seem that I am late to the party. The popular PlayStation 3 is the successor to the even more popular PlayStation and PlayStation 2 consoles, released in 1995 and 2000 respectively. As popular as the PlayStation series of consoles is, however, it has resultantly become a target for being exploited. Exploiting video game consoles such as the PlayStation could range from relatively benign, such as modifying the console to play video games from another country, to thievish, such as modifying the same console to play a disc with pirated content.
During the years 2005 and 2006, video game consoles rapidly shifted towards online gaming. Coinciding with the release of the PlayStation 3, Sony allowed users of the new system to play with other people, download new video games, and access other features via the PlayStation Network. It was only a matter of time, however, for exploiters to move on and try their efforts with the PlayStation Network. This time, however, their actions would lead to a breach in privacy of millions of users and gain the attention of governments. On 17 April 2011, an unidentified group of hackers breached the PlayStation Network, causing the service to shut down three days later on the 20th. Despite the Network being shut down for safety, the hackers obtained a large amount of passwords for the user accounts, allowing hackers to access personal information stored in the accounts. The passwords were cited as being hashed instead of encrypted[1], meaning that passwords were only moderately secured, which is likely why such passwords were obtained in the first place.
Such an event can be concerning for anyone who relies on their bank accounts to keep their money secured. While I was not part of the PlayStation Network during the incident, I can still relate, since one of my accounts for an unrelated video game was hacked. Fortunately for me, the account was long since inactive and no longer had my father's credit card information on it, so no real-life problems ever came from that incident.
