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| It only does apathy, because they couldn't care less about the customers. |
- Name
- Address (City, State, Zip)
- Country
- Email Address
- Birthdate
- Playstation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN Online ID
Aside from the obvious feelings of WTF, I'd like to ask why exactly the public wasn't informed as soon as there was any potential of personal data being compromised. I realize it is in the best interest of Sony to not cause a PR nightmare, but not telling anyone until this late in the game doesn't really seem to be causing any less of a problem. I don't really care whether or not it's good for profits to handle this type of situation correctly, if my information is being passed around willy-nilly to ne'er do wells I'd want to know A.S.A.P. so I can protect myself. Honestly it begs the question, in my best AVGN impression, "What the HELL were they thinking???" This situation could not have been more poorly handled, and it's a shame because we're talking about 70 million people who will be affected by this. Microsoft better be paying a Sherlock Holmes level of attention to this, because this kind of crap won't fly in the future.
*Update- U.S. Senator of Connecticut Richard Blumenthal has issued a statement to Sony demanding some answers. To which I'd like to add, "Damn Straight, Son!"
On a totally unrelated and more lighthearted note, the Gametrailers series Video Game Reunion is getting better with each passing week. It took until this last episode, number 10 of the first season, to actually become a show worth watching. If you haven't heard, the basic premise is of a video game reunion panel at "E4" featuring the real-life actors who have video games based off of them (i.e. Mario, Link/Zelda, Mega Man, etc.) It is shot in the style of a reality TV show.
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| VGV fully embraces it's own ridiculousness |
| While it got off to a rocky start, VGV's constant commitment to outdo itself with over-the-top shenanigans and substantial fanservice makes it worth the 7-10 minutes it takes to watch each episode. I recommend checking it out if your either a gamer, or just a nerd in general. There are of course some standout performances, Luigi, Lil' P, and Mega Man to name a few, but the overall cast slowly grows on you until you crave for more story arcs to pan out and better jokes to be delivered. Make sure to watch April O'Neil's newscast and read the information ticker on the bottom, it is a source of guaranteed amusement. That's all for now folks, but check back soon for my reviews of Crysis 2 and Portal 2 in addition to the usual sillyness. |
2 comments:
So, you're upset that a hacker may have gotten information that's already in the PUBLIC DOMAIN?
They only thing anyone should be worried about is if their credit card information was obtained - which Sony believes has not happened, although they have warned of the possibility. PSN being a free service, you have to ask how many users actually have used credit cards.
“While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.”
As for how long it took Sony to inform the public of the extent of the hack, has it occurred to you that they may not have known until now? It's pretty naive to think they can tell the extent of the hack in just one day. At least they had the good sense to shut down the network as soon as they found out the network had been compromised. Do you think Microsoft would have done the same, forfeiting all that revenue and having to issue refunds? I don't think so.
By the way, I know how much you love to rag on Sony, but you should realize this could happen to XBox Live, which has many more users and MANY MORE credit card numbers on file. Also, if a hacker gets your Live password, then they also have your MSN/Hotmail/Live password because it's the same account. Think about how much worse that situation would be.
I'm not absolving Sony of its guilt. They were certainly lax with their security protocols. They should have been prepared for something like this. At least they had the sense to shut down the network and rebuild it instead of just trying to 'patch' the problem.
I was a little lazy in elaborating why exactly I'm so frustrated so I guess I'll go into a little more detail. As far as how many users have used their credit card info through the PSN, considering the number of people who signed up for PS+ and all those who have downloaded PSN games without running out to the store to purchase a points card, I'd say that number is pretty high.
The real issue is that this problem was totally preventable in the first place, in addition to the fact that Sony KNEW they were going to be under fire in the near future. We found out this past February that Sony sends our credit card information over as Unencrypted Text File whenever the PS3 connects to the PSN. First of all, that is totally unacceptable but since businesses do shady crap like this all the time I guess so long as the people are uninformed, as the saying goes, "What they don't know won't hurt them."
So, when this news was made public, how is it possible that Sony STILL didn't do a damn thing to make their systems more secure as a sign of good will toward their customers? And if this knowledge alone isn't reason enough to beef up security, how about the recent Geohot hack that Sony made a big deal about taking to court, or the fact that the hacker group Anonymous sent them threats warning them they would be going after the service? There is absolutely no excuse for Sony to be sitting on their thumbs not taking any action at all in the face of certain impending danger.
As of today, we now know that it took Sony a while to figure out the extent of the damage and that they did in fact tell us as soon as they knew, after letting an outside security firm investigate the breach. On that note, I will say that they did the best they could and as far as leaving us out in the dark goes; there wasn't anything more they could have done to inform us about the incident.
Now we deal with the issue of how to fix things. Given all of the information that was compromised, they have to rebuild the system entirely. But where does that leave us? What happens to all the content we've downloaded? What happens to our Home profile? (that no one uses...) And more importantly, how am I supposed to trust Sony again after they clearly made no effort to prevent this from happening and seem even more apathetic in terms of compensation?
You bring up a good point about M$oft. I wouldn't be surprised if their system was equally as vulnerable, which is why I mentioned in my original article that they "Better be paying a Sherlock Holmes level of attention to this." I know that humanity as a species is retarded beyond measure, and the only way to make a large mass of people act with unity in any sort of capacity is through either tragedy or fear. After all, It only took us a few centuries to destroy a planet that's thrived for Billions of years; a number our feeble minds can't even comprehend, by the way. I also realize that the online world is a dangerous place, I just don't enjoy having that fact slap me across the face due to a major electronic company's ignorance and lackadaisical attitude.
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