It looks like PlayStation stll hasn’t fixed its security issues, as now prominent PlayStation user has lost access to their account in a situation that is very similar to what happened to Colin Moriarty earlier this year.
The victim this time is Radec, known as RealRadec. Radec is a gaming content creator whose posts frequently focus on PlayStation, mixing gameplay clips, jokes and nostalgic looks back at Sony’s older games and consoles. He also makes YouTube videos and appears on Spawn Wave’s Spawncast podcast, and has guested on Colin Moriarty’s podcasts a number of times.
Radec took to social media to post that his account had been taken over. He’s tried gaining access and changing his password and re-enabled 2FA, but nothing has worked and whoever has taken his account has managed to change the email linked to the account.
He also adds that PlayStation support number is offline right now, leaving him stuck.
When this happened to Moriarty earlier in the year, it was discovered that all the ‘hackers’ needed was some basic information to persuade PlayStation support to let them gain access to the account. A PSN ID and knowledge of when somebody bought a game was actually enough. At the time, Moriarty regained his account by going straight to some higher-ups at Sony, admitting that it was only his unique pull within the industry that allowed him do to it.
Unfortunately, many other people report being unable to ever regain access to their account after it was stolen.
The good news is some comments on Radec’s post seem to suggest PlayStation support might be a little better at helping these days and they were able to get their accounts back by supplying some basic information.
So, why hasn’t the problem been fixed? Well, it seems like it might be due to how hard it is to balance security. The way the current system works is intended to allow people to recover their accounts easily in case they get locked out: some basic information like recent game purchases and an email address, for example. Unfortunately, that information is often very easy for people to get a hold of these days. By looking at a profile’s Trophies, for example, you can quickly figure out that they bought a game on launch day. With a few other pieces of information, it’s enough to get support to hand over access.
If you lock the system down, it makes it more secure from outsiders but can also make it more inconvenient and difficult for of users to get their account back if they accidentally manage to lock themselves out.
Whatever the reason, though, it’s pretty clear that it’s too easy to gain control of people’s accounts. It needs o be sorted out.
