Reports of the personal data theft of millions of PlayStation Network users has been all over the news today. While the media focuses on the scale of the incident, gamers will be left with concerns about how their details may be exploited. If this is you, read our advice here at the Getsafeonline.org PlayStation page.
Most of the guidance Get Safe Online gives focuses on what to do protect your information and prevent it falling into the wrong hands in the first place. However, what do you if it’s already happened?
The fact is, today, identity theft is a common occurrence. Our data is valuable, and as the IT sector develops new ways to keep intruders out, they will come up with clever new ways to get in. We have not seen the last of this type of incident, I’m afraid. There are things you can do if your information gets into the wrong hands.
What this means for PSN users is that they need to do what all internet users need to do all of the time – know and keep watch out for the warning signs: unusual transactions on your bank statement, receiving credit cards you didn’t apply for and so on.
Knowing the signs means you can jump on the problem and prevent it getting out of hand. Banks have now become very adept at handling fraud, so all is not lost if your details are compromised.
So, if you’re the kind of person that doesn’t open those credit card bills because you are scared of what they might say, don’t be! Someone else could be making that big number bigger than it should be.
Getsafeonline.org PlayStation page.
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This is an issue that really scares me sometimes, and makes me question whether to leave the social sites that I am a member of. Of course I understand that it is very difficult to secure a server and nigh on impossible to prevent hackers getting in somewhere or another, but the fact is some of these large companies aren’t even implimenting the basics. For example, why where these particular attackers able to gain access to bank details that should have been stored in an encoded fashion therefore making access to the data useless. I think new laws need to be implimented to force these companies to take appropriate measure to ensure the safety of our data with big lawsuites for those who don’t.