Is this PSN hack as bad as the RROD?
By Punk1984 156 Comments
Before I get too far in; if you haven't heard the PSN was hacked thanks to custom firmware and registered PSN users personal information (including maybe credit card numbers) was compromised. Thanks GeoHot. SO the question has been running around about whether this is or is not as bad as the RROD. Well Sony managed to handle this in surprisingly Microsoft-esque fashion by not telling everyone right away. Just kind of hoping it wasn't as bad as it could be and then having to fess up. We won't know how bad this effects Sony's reputation for a few months really, once the problem is solved and hoopla dies down, if the issue still lingers then we will know. For right now I would say no not really but that is only because the RROD was a much larger problem then what the PSN Hack seems to be right now. Having said that if people's credit information is compromised and the worst comes to pass this could be a big black eye on the PlayStation brand.
Sony needs to do something big to make up for this some gesture beyond giving away free PSN downloads. If I were in charge of Sony PR I would make sure a vague mention of this came up in the E3 keynote (along the lines of "We've learned from our mistakes and we are better") and a position was created to both keep in contact with web security and the customers. But I'm not in charge of Sony PR so I'll sit back and watch, I feel they've done a sub-par job thus far with this crisis but they haven't handled it the worst. Already SOny seems to be strengthening the network to protect users, but that isn't enough. If anything I think this will push Sony to price the PS3 at $199 before Microsoft, it would be the kind of big news story you need to cover this stuff up.
On a personal note this is why I am against hacking and home brewing. It opens a platform (and its customers) up to abuse in a way that most hackers don't for see. Geohot may play nice and say he only jail breaked the PS3 to run his own code but this is what happened and he is responsible for it. He is as responsible as Sony for any breach if not more so. Geohot bypassed the security safe guards and this is what happened.
If your information is compromised; I'm sorry, hate GeoHot and the hackers because it happened and hate Sony because they took their time telling you about it.
I actually have to agree with both sides here; I think this initial response is pretty bad on Sony's part since the problem may not be as bad as it could be Sony has caused a lot of media attention. Unless credit card info was taken; Sony's worst day (with this fiasco) is behind them, they bit the bullet and told everyone to be cautious. Was that the smart thing to do? If the PSN goes back up in a week and nothing else happens, no probably not. At the same time if everything is ok, people will always say that at least Sony told them. Once again I think it is too early to tell because Sony only warned us of potential damage, if that comes to pass then the situation changes. PR wise I feel like they handled this "not-bad" like a C-. Sure it will give a little more gas to the flame wars but really at the end of the day at least they told us they screwed the pooch.
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