PS Account security

[Touring Mars]

Another noobish question, but I wondered how safe your account details are in the event that some swine steals your PS3...

Unfortunately, this is exactly what has happened to my workmate Sam She moved house a few weeks ago and doesn't play the PS3 much anyway, but she went to retrieve it last night and the PS3 has vanished from the box it was in. Although she has no proof, her suspicions lie squarely at the door of two dodgy Hungarian removal men who turned up when she hired a 'Man With A Van' to help her move. She even gave them a tip

She asked me this morning whether or not the thieving :censored:s would be able to access her account details and whether her card details are stored somewhere on the PS3 hard-drive. She has, however, checked her bank account and there hasn't been any dodgy transactions - yet.

 

[Robin]

Well firstly does she have to enter her PSN network password every time to get online? I know a lot of people get fed up of entering their password all the time to connect to the PS Store and tick save details but if she didn't use it much then maybe there would be a password to get past...... that is the first line of defense...

The second line of defense is adding funds to the account, in theory if they got past the first PS3 password they could only use the funds that are already on the PSN wallet (which cant be that much surely!) because to add more from a credit card would require entering in your credit card number...

However if you setup a one click and buy style setup where funds are automatically added from you credit card then there maybe a problem, they would only be able to buy PSN games though! YOUR CREDIT CARD DETAILS CAN NOT BE SEEN NO MATTER WHAT.

So basically the worst they can do is buy PSN games... but im sure if she hasn't setup an auto debit wallet system and her online access is password protected she should be fine. If anything shows up on bank statements though I would tell the bank right away to block transactions to the playstation network which can be done. Im sure if they stole it it was to sell on right away, they probably wiped the system right after getting it so it cant be traced.

It does suck to loose the PS3 though, can she not claim house insurance? She must still have the receipt (like for the warranty).

I think PSN is quite secure, theres no severe failing that I can see or have been exploited...

Hope this helps....

Robin

 

[Flerbizky]

I think PSN is quite secure, theres no severe failing that I can see or have been exploited...

Hope this helps....

I'm thinking the same thing. And I highly doubt Sony would be stupid enough to store credit card information locally on the PS3 - for exactly this reason. Much rather have that info tied into your PSN account and all those data stored safely at Sonys back-end servers.

 

[Touring Mars]

Thanks alot for the info 👍 I was pretty sure that this was the case anyway, but I forgot about the adding funds thing. I guess she's safe from further fraud...

As for the insurance, I don't know that she'd have much luck since she can't prove that it was stolen (although it is virtually certain that it was) etc. and insurance companies have a tendency to require a crime number, and she hasn't reported it as a crime and doesn't intend to as far as I know. Sucks majorly - I suggested that I could pick her up a PS3 when I pass through Duty Free next time at Heathrow - I couldn't believe how cheap you can get a PS3 now (especially if you're a Hungarian removal man)