Gradults 0 – 1 Evil Geniuses

In the light of news that Sony has carelessly slipped your information to unknown eyes, I take a look at the implications for gaming gradults.

PlayStation usually comes served with happy connotations for students. How we cherished those wasted hours playing ‘Pro Evo’, smoking recreational drugs and avoiding writing that dissertation. It was bliss.

I know that for many gradults, playing PlayStation and using their online service is more than a nostalgic look into the golden days of studenthood. And like me, many of you are still heavily invested in PlayStaion today, despite being well into gradulthood.

So it’s safe to say that the news regarding Sony’s online network, creatively named PlayStation Network (PSN), has caused some concern at Gradulthood HQ.

Ok, so they didn’t leave it on a train or in a public toilet, but letting some whizz kid hacker run off with my credit card details, email address and password isn’t exactly on lads.

I’ll confess, I’m not a programming expert (because if I was I’d be sipping champagne in China White, on you) but isn’t this information supposed to be encrypted or something?

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those paranoid lunatics who won’t buy something off Amazon for fear of having their credit card charged with more iPads that you can swipe a finger at, and whilst credit card information is never 100% safe, we all buy things in the knowledge that we’ll be ok. Nobody will steal from me, right?

Well unfortunately, your credit card is the least of your worries. Are you one of those people who use the same password for every login? With the same email address? Your email account holds the key to your online life. After all, where do all your password resets go?

And forget about falling back on those trusty security questions. The nerds are well aware that your mother’s maiden name is in fact Wilson, and that your favourite sports team is Preston North End.

Ah well, what are they going to do, change your facebook status? At least they haven’t got your billing address… ah…

Look at the positives though, you might get a birthday card now they have your DOB too.

All of this is, of course, partially in jest. There are 77million users of the PSN, and (at the risk of exposing behind the curtain), that’s a few more than readers of this blog - so the odds of one of you lot falling victim to the hack is pretty slim.

But that’s not the point. Sony has let their consumers down. The consumers that support their business, and definitely DID NOT chip their PS1’s back in the day to play copied games that their mates sold at school.

The underlying message is just be careful. Here at Gradulthood, we try to look after our own. Change your passwords, check your online banking, and keep an eye out for suspicious emails. And don’t say we don’t look out for you.