Like a sieve.
Every once in a while, a big service goes down And it’s not unreasonable to think that maybe it was someone hacking things they shouldn’t. Thus, yesterday’s massive, day-long PlayStation Network outage might make you think about at least a little bit of personal security.
As for what you should do just in case, well:
- You should monitor your credit card/debit card/etc. transaction history for any unfamiliar purchases. While Sony has given no stated reason for the outage, it’s not unwise to try and keep ahead of any shenanigans hackers might play with your information.
- Avoid responding to any texts, emails, or other such forms of communication asking for your financial details, bank information, or anything that might be considered personal information. Sony themselves will not ask for this information, and you can confirm by standard means with your bank or other such institutions whether they are trying to contact you.
- Consider changing your password. If there was a hack (which seems to not be the case), they likely have your previous password. Changing it not only protects your store balance, but also your account as a whole. Then again, it’s entirely possible that someone spilled coffee on a server rack, so who knows?
Aside from all that, this event really highlights the overall suckiness of the all-digital future. PlayStation Network is primarily the means by which many of the PS4/PS5’s games are able to access online functionality, it’s true. But it’s worth noting that all of the “free” games available through it require those servers to be online to be playable. It’s essentially DRM for all of those games that are available as a perk of your subscription, and none of them chooch without that online check. The irony of the PS5 Pro launching without an integral disc drive (and the external solution requiring PlayStation Plus services to be available to pair it with the console) should hang heavy in the air.
The one plus out of all of this is that, thanks to this outage, all current PlayStation Plus subscribers who had an active subscription before the outage will get a five-day extension to their subscription. Granted, 5 days doesn’t seem like all that much, but it is over 5 times the amount of time services were down. Some might have preferred a freebie à la Play At Home, but you take what you can get.
Source: PlayStation Network servers down: Sony’s two recommendations in the event of a hack
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