More than 15,000 Maltese PlayStation users had their personal data compromised during a massive security breach suffered by Sony but many are not worried since they divulged little sensitive information to the gaming giant.
Last month hackers stole the personal data of about 100 million users of Sony’s PlayStation Network that connected PlayStation 3 consoles to online games, films and more.
What is usually perceived as a disadvantage by Maltese PlayStation addicts – the absence of a store for Malta from where to buy games, films and updates – turned out to be a blessing. It means local users cannot buy games directly using their credit card details.
Many, instead, buy top-up cards from Sony’s local agent Forestals which they use to make their purchase. This means they never divulged sensitive bank data online.
For this reason, Paul Micallef, who plays practically every evening, is not particularly worried about the hacking consequences.
“The only thing I’m concerned about is that I have not been able to play for a while,” the 20-year-old said.
His friend, Joseph Cremona, is not too bothered about the whole issue either. He too feels there is nothing to worry about since hackers could have his name, password and country of origin at most.
Although he missed playing, he said this would blow over and all would be fine. But will he trust Sony?
“I happen to be an avid Sony supporter but I have friends who said they intend to drop Sony completely,” he said.
IT expert Martin Debattista cautioned that the number of Maltese players whose accounts were compromised could exceed the 15,144 listed by Sony. Some Maltese could have opened an account under another country, like the UK, to be able to access PlayStation stores.
Mr Debattista explained that to play online against other players, PlayStation users had to register with Sony that also sold games and software. This required credit card details.
He said he was shocked to hear how Sony had fallen victim to such hacking. This went to show that nothing on the internet was safe and people ought to be very careful when divulging personal information.
It was important to use trusted sites and payment websites such as PayPal, he said.
Forestals, Sony’s local agent, did not want to comment on the issue.
The Sony security breach was first discovered on April 20.
Many users were upset at Sony’s delay in informing people affected. Sony eventually warned that hackers had stolen passwords, birthdays and other data, and could not rule out that credit card data had been stolen too. PlayStation Network and the Qriocity streaming music service were turned off to investigate the breach.
Players are still able to take part in games offline on consoles, but lost the ability to challenge others on the internet, stream movies, or get other services. It is not clear when this will be up and running again.