Sony Changes PSN Europe Passwords As Precaution, Forgets To Tell Users

[Karloff]

Sony Changes PSN Europe Passwords As Precaution, Forgets To Tell Users

We can't say anything more, says Sony, as it would affect our ability to protect you.

Earlier this week some European Sony PSN customers found to their horror that their accounts were locked. None of them knew why, and they trooped off to customer support to find out. Not to worry, says Sony, it was us. Sony detected "irregular activity" on the affected accounts, according to an online support coordinator, and reset all their passwords as a precaution.

Irregular activity could mean anything, and doesn't have to mean there was a problem, or "anything specific to worry about," says PSN customer support [http://community.eu.playstation.com/t5/Support-PSN/Can-t-sign-into-PSN-Incorrect-login-details/td-p/20140433/page/2]. Sony couldn't provide further details "as it would affect our ability to keep you guys safe."

But what Sony didn't do, after it reset all those passwords, was to tell the affected customers what was going on. Cue panic. Some of them had credit cards attached to their account; the last thing they needed was any suggestion that their account might, in some unspecific way, have been compromised.

It's unsurprising that Sony's twitchy about account security, after the 2011 hack [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110898-Sony-Admits-It-May-Never-Know-What-Happened-in-PSN-Attack], but it seems odd that it never thought to contact its customers. Refusing to tell people why it happened is no solution, no matter how plausible the reason for doing so may sound. The PS4 has yet to launch in Europe; here's hoping Sony gets over its jitters by the time it does.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-11-21-psn-eu-resets-many-user-passwords-as-a-precautionary-measure]


Permalink

 

[KarmaTheAlligator]

Karma is a *****, you know...

Hey!

OT: You've really got to wonder what went through the heads of the Sony employees (or executives, whichever made the call) when they decided not to tell anyone that their passwords got reset. Didn't they realise how people would react? While I approve of them taking swift measures, the way they handled it left a lot to be desired.

 

[jackpipsam]

Playstation and internet has always been a strained relationship.

 

[wooty]

Oh so thats what that was. I just changed my password.....no flap.

 

[Bug MuIdoon]

Let's see: massive hardware failures

Sorry, but when exactly did they have massive hardware failures?


OT: Had to change my password. An email telling me why would have been great, but it's no biggie.

 

[Bug MuIdoon]

Sorry, but when exactly did they have massive hardware failures?

Missed the reports of thousands of PS4's that either arrived dead or died within hours?

No, but I saw the reports that state they effect less than 1% of consoles. Which, is a pretty decent figure within any tech based industry, not just gaming.

 

[Kaimax]

Hardware failures: Yes
Massive: Very vocal 1% is not massive.

 

[Doclector]

Let's see: massive hardware failures, online service fuck ups, poor conflict managing...

I'd say Sony's mockery of MS and the XBONE fires back now. Karma is a *****, you know...

Not yet. For all we know, xbox could bomb as well. Then the entire hardcore console market is thrown into disarray. If so, nintendo, if you were thinking about reclaiming the hardcore market, now would be the opportune moment.

Well, they've improved since the last hack, I'll say that much. This was a very quick response, it seems, but next time, a notice wouldn't go amiss.

 

[J Tyran]

Sorry, but when exactly did they have massive hardware failures?

Missed the reports of thousands of PS4's that either arrived dead or died within hours?

No, but I saw the reports that state they effect less than 1% of consoles. Which, is a pretty decent figure within any tech based industry, not just gaming.

You saw the reports from Sony stating that less than 1% of consoles are affected, you should take claims made by both Sony and the angry internet people with a pinch of salt. Until reliable 3rd parties can come up with a figure it could be worse than Sony are willing to admit or better than angry customers would have you believe.

For instance if you look at Amazon and check the verified purchase customer reviews a lot more than 1% of customers are complaining about their PS4 either being DoA or dying shortly after getting it, of course the sample size is small but it is fairly representative even though its not the complete picture.

 

[CJ1145]

You saw the reports from Sony stating that less than 1% of consoles are affected, you should take claims made by both Sony and the angry internet people with a pinch of salt. Until reliable 3rd parties can come up with a figure it could be worse than Sony are willing to admit or better than angry customers would have you believe.

For instance if you look at Amazon and check the verified purchase customer reviews a lot more than 1% of customers are complaining about their PS4 either being DoA or dying shortly after getting it, of course the sample size is small but it is fairly representative even though its not the complete picture.

A fair point, but few people can seem to be arsed to make a customer review at all unless something's gone terribly wrong. So even then you're getting horribly slanted statistics.

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

Umm... this is nothing new. Blizzard does this all the time.

 

[RJ 17]

It's stuff like this that kinda makes the Xbox 180 seem a bit appealing (now that they've indeed done a 180 on everything that people were pissed off about when it was originally announced). That and I've heard a rumor that part of the PS4's TOS is that they have the right to record your voice-chat conversations and use them however they see fit. >.>

 

[BernardoOne]

Let's see: massive hardware failures, online service fuck ups, poor conflict managing...

I'd say Sony's mockery of MS and the XBONE fires back now. Karma is a *****, you know...

I dont think you know what the word "massive" means. Like, at all.

 

[Sanunes]

To me this seems similar to the 2011 hack due to the lack of communication with their customers, which was my biggest problem with that entire incident.

 

[Bug MuIdoon]

You saw the reports from Sony stating that less than 1% of consoles are affected, you should take claims made by both Sony and the angry internet people with a pinch of salt. Until reliable 3rd parties can come up with a figure it could be worse than Sony are willing to admit or better than angry customers would have you believe.

For instance if you look at Amazon and check the verified purchase customer reviews a lot more than 1% of customers are complaining about their PS4 either being DoA or dying shortly after getting it, of course the sample size is small but it is fairly representative even though its not the complete picture.

Hey, I'm not the one saying they had "Massive hardware failure", I'm just pointing out that they have not according to the information we have as of now. We have no facts or definite figures, so no one can comment really. All we have to go on currently is Sony's report of 1%, which if true is definitely not massive. Anything else is speculation, and those Amazon statistics are dreadfully askew.

1% of a million sold systems at that time translates to 10.000 broken consoles.
Might be a tolerable figure from a technical point of view, but it's a PR nightmare.

It's really not. 1% is nothing. I'm not saying it's necessarily a good industry standard that we uphold, but it is a pretty good figure for the industry standard. If some independent figures do emerge, and Sony aren't telling porkies, then they're going to be laughing. 1% is pretty decent PR. It's a figure, that if true, Microsoft should be pretty worried about. The 360 had failure rates, reportedly, of 30%+ That is a PR nightmare.

Either way, Until more independent results come in. No one knows, but saying it's massive is baloney.

 

[smithy_2045]

Looks like users paying for multiplayer has really allowed Sony to improve their PSN stuff.