Somebody’s Trying To Break Into Your PSN Account…Again

13 years ago

October 12, 2011 at 1:20 pm

Sony has just announced that it has detected someone trying to match “a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database”.

In other words, people got hold of a massive list of usernames and passwords from somewhere else, and have been caught checking to see if you use the same username and password on the PlayStation Network.

According to Sony’s Chief Information Officer, “less than one tenth of one per cent (0.1%) of our PSN, SEN and SOE audience may have been affected”. IN raw number terms that means 93,000 accounts were accessed by someone other than the account holder, and as a result Sony has “temporarily locked these accounts”.

An Important Message From Sony’s Chief Information Security Officer [Sony]

Comments

38 responses to “Somebody’s Trying To Break Into Your PSN Account…Again”

READ THE COMMENTS

compl3x

October 12, 2011 at 1:39 pm

Very small amount of affected accounts and Sony moved quickly to deal with it.

Reply
1. SemiConscious
  
  October 12, 2011 at 4:55 pm
  
  fear monger much?
  excellent headline is excellent?
  how about: “are you an idiot who uses the same login for ‘facebook’* and your psn account? might be time to get some smarts”
  srsly.
  
  Reply
Richard Smack Version 2

October 12, 2011 at 1:40 pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31g0YE61PLQ

Reply
Cannon

October 12, 2011 at 1:43 pm

Wow … really? thank god i hardly use any online service of PS3, and never added in any CC details or anything at all confidentional to it ….

Now if only Xbox will admit to the account hacking/stolen profile and hurry up with sorting out my account

Reply
706

October 12, 2011 at 1:49 pm

Sounds like someone is just testing information they got from phishing. If you haven’t given anyone your password then I am sure you are safe but you can always change your password anyway. Nothing like the original hack that had them steal information, this is more like brute forcing.

Reply
1. Braaains
  
  October 12, 2011 at 2:26 pm
  
  Yeah, the article states pretty clearly they got the information from somewhere else. For all we know they got a bunch of Facebook (for example) logins and are hammering away at PSN trying to see how many people use the same email/password combination there that they use on Facebook.
  
  Nothing Sony or anybody else can do about that except detect it and take action to mitigate it (which they’ve done).
  
  Reply
  1. 706
    
    October 12, 2011 at 3:17 pm
    
    Reminds me of this http://xkcd.com/792/
    
    This would be so effective that I find it kind of scary.
    
    Reply
Michael Kirwan Deeg

October 12, 2011 at 1:56 pm

Not again…..it says something about us as people though and how inherently lazy we are. After reading the headline all I thought was ‘ geez I dont want to change over to XBOX, I just want my PS3 to work without risk of Identity theft’. So to put this in perspective; I wish Sony would do something about it even though they have dropped the ball more than once rather than me use common sense and leave to another network.

Reply
1. djmcbell
  
  October 12, 2011 at 5:25 pm
  
  This time Sony are doing no wrong. This is affecting <0.1% of accounts and all someone is doing is trying a suspiciously large amount of usernames and passwords (that it seems they got from another source, such as facebook) and seeing if they get anywhere.
  
  This person does NOT have PSN usernames/passwords. If they did they would have gotten in. They've just found a random stash of usernames and passwords and decided to try them on PSN to see if these accounts exist and if they use the same passwords.
  
  Again, NOT Sony's fault.
  
  Reply
matt30822

October 12, 2011 at 2:04 pm

This action has done more damage symbolically then it has done by attempting to gain information from peoples accounts. This indicates that for a second time a major incident has involved Sony and the PSN in regards to security and for some people that will be enough, regardless of whether it was successful or unsuccessful. It also dosen’t matter what sony has done (personally i think they did the right things – announce it fast, admit to it immediately and lock down the accounts and minimise damage) because for SOME people two times is just one time too many – especially i imagine for parents.

All Sony can do is hope that this does not go mainstream…

Reply
1. Shane
  
  October 12, 2011 at 2:33 pm
  
  This one is not Sony’s fault. If you read the article and/or other comments, you’d see that Sony did everything they could to block the use of data stolen from ELSEWHERE (i.e. not Sony’s PSN data).
  
  Reply
  1. Shane
    
    October 12, 2011 at 2:34 pm
    
    Though you’re right. Inflammatory post images and people who only read the headlines…
    
    This probably has done a great deal of symbolic damage.
    
    Reply
    1. matt30822
      
      October 12, 2011 at 2:37 pm
      
      Yeah that is the point i am trying to get at. Like i said i think Sony has done everything that it can but for some people it won’t matter – the fact that it had occurred, especially for those who aren’t tech savvy and were effected by the first PSN breach will seriously reconsider ever using the PSN again at least.
      
      Reply
testing Somthing

October 12, 2011 at 2:09 pm

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Reply
1. SemiConscious
  
  October 12, 2011 at 5:56 pm
  
  epic NO, goes off the edge of my screen!!!!
  
  Reply
Black Dahlia NZ

October 12, 2011 at 2:14 pm

Hah @ Pariah

Reply
1. Pariah
  
  October 13, 2011 at 5:06 pm
  
  And look, they got away with nothing. LOL, PSN wins yet again. Sorry, fanboy.
  
  Reply
2. Pariah
  
  October 13, 2011 at 5:12 pm
  
  How is this funny for XBL-fags? Nothing even happened to PSN xD
  
  A small number of people use the same password for everything and need to change them, that’s all.
  
  learn2read, fanboy
  
  Reply
3. Pariah
  
  October 15, 2011 at 7:34 pm
  
  Hey, look; Xbox Live was just hacked, and shit actually happened to people’s accounts. In This PSN breach, nothing happened. Yeah, PSN is more secure.
  
  Reply
eggbertegg

October 12, 2011 at 2:18 pm

JUST GIVE UP ALREADY SONY….. what are they going to offer the effected ppl now……. wait a minute have a free month of dc online……. ooooo thats free already….. lucky for the new clause in the t’s and c’s heheheheh no class actions

suckers

Reply
1. f4ction
  
  October 12, 2011 at 2:21 pm
  
  How’s being a troll working for you, mate?
  
  Reply
  1. Richard Smack Version 2
    
    October 12, 2011 at 2:23 pm
    
    Hows being sonys butt slave working for you?
    
    Reply
    1. Braaains
      
      October 12, 2011 at 2:30 pm
      
      What does this have to do with Sony? They didn’t give the information away. If you actually read the article, it states pretty clearly the got the information from somewhere ELSE and are just trying it speculatively on the off chance that people are using the same credentials on PSN that they’re using wherever this info came from.
      
      “These attempts appear to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or other sources. In this case, given that the data tested against our network consisted of sign-in ID-password pairs, and that the overwhelming majority of the pairs resulted in failed matching attempts, it is likely the data came from another source and not from our Networks. We have taken steps to mitigate the activity. ”
      
      You’d look like less of a tool if you actually read the article and the associated link.
      
      Reply
    2. angelofdev
      
      October 12, 2011 at 3:43 pm
      
      what a dumbass, lrn2read article.
      
      Reply
    3. f4ction
      
      October 12, 2011 at 4:43 pm
      
      I’m actually a PC gamer, buddy! I use my PS3 for blurays and my xbox as a media centre extender for my computer’s tv tuner.
      
      Go away troll!
      
      Reply
  2. Pariah
    
    October 13, 2011 at 5:08 pm
    
    Hear hear. Obvious, failed troll is obvious and has failed.
    
    Reply
2. Pariah
  
  October 13, 2011 at 5:12 pm
  
  You sir are an idiot.
  
  Reply
eggbertegg

October 12, 2011 at 2:51 pm

the thing is i dont care for sony or its products, the term “once bitten” thats enough for me so im sorry Richard and Braaaains im no ones Butt slave as so nicley you put it

Thank you for feed back has been file 13’ed

period

Reply
1. Richard Smack Version 2
  
  October 12, 2011 at 2:55 pm
  
  sorry man i was referring to f4ction.
  
  I don’t blame you tbh.
  
  Reply
2. Braaains
  
  October 12, 2011 at 2:59 pm
  
  So when they give up on PSN and start using this same set of credentials to get into XBL and Steam then you’re just going to give up on online gaming altogether?
  
  Reply
  1. eggbertegg
    
    October 12, 2011 at 3:22 pm
    
    not at all. without getting to involed in the nitty gritty of things MS XBL, 256 bit……. which yet is to be broken, also has been regarded more secure then banks, gov agencies and NASA
    
    But as we all know with time and a lot of effort all can come undone
    
    Reply
    1. Braaains
      
      October 12, 2011 at 4:41 pm
      
      But all that 256 bot stuff won’t help them at all in case of an attack like this one, because it’s just somebody hammering away with a whole bunch of login details they got from somewhere else and seeing if they’ll work here as well.
      
      All they can do is detect the attack and try to put a stop to it by locking the affected accounts, which is exactly what Sony have done. The only way to actually prevent somebody from carrying out this kind of attack would be to stop legitimate users from logging in too, and that’s not much of a solution.
      
      Reply
  2. Richard Smack Version 2
    
    October 12, 2011 at 3:25 pm
    
    TBH unless there is a gaming crash which i am hoping for so the customers actually get some power back i will be giving up gaming soon. The reasons are well PC games will slowly but surely get region locked like EA games. You can not buy battlefield 3 online via digital distribution from green man gaming because its locked. What that does is give the gaming companies price gouging, believe me they will do it. Another reason would be the PSN pass, you really think that wont come to single player games as well.
    
    These are dark times for gamers and its only going to get worse. Take DLC for example everyone thinks its a great idea to pay more money for what should of been in the game at the start. Game is becoming more and more like the movie industry all about the bucks and no substance…. IMHO
    
    Reply
eggbertegg

October 12, 2011 at 2:57 pm

my bad 🙂

Reply
DENAz

October 12, 2011 at 2:59 pm

Yeah, glad to have taken my details off PSN, never making that mistake again. No trust for Sony at all in regards for protecting my details

Reply
Aliasalpha

October 12, 2011 at 6:26 pm

Interesting timing, somone just did the same thing to my xbox account & bought fifa12 on my account

Reply
1. oggob
  
  October 12, 2011 at 7:47 pm
  
  and this could be a result of something similar, details from else, massive force attempt to use the details on various websites to see if they get a match!
  
  Reply
jim smith

October 12, 2011 at 10:44 pm

It seems to my like the new security measures they implemented seem to have worked. Caught early with minimum affects to users.

Reply

Why Hololive’s Australian Performance Made Me A VTuber Fan

Kick Streamers At DreamHack Melbourne Accused Of Harassing Attendees

World Famous Digital Pop Idol Becomes Your Next Favourite Magic The Gathering Card

This Indie Game About Pools Keeps Freaking Me TF Out

Look At This Aussie-Made Party Game About Spanking Right Now, Its Important

Southern Phone Is Currently Offering An NBN 1000 Plan For $95

The Best Gaming Deals In Australia Today

EB Games’ Save On Sale: Our Top Picks [Update]

Internet For Gaming: The Best NBN Plans To Help Fix Your Ping

Where To Buy A Steam Deck In Australia And New Zealand

Somebody’s Trying To Break Into Your PSN Account…Again

Comments

38 responses to “Somebody’s Trying To Break Into Your PSN Account…Again”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply