It looks like Sony are finally taking steps to beef up security on the PlayStation Network, by way of adding two-factor authentication to the service.
Sony first confirmed the news to Polygon. PlayStation 3 users noticed after the most recent update, that if they entered incorrect login information, the system would mentioned two-step verification (something Xbox has had since 2013).
A Sony representative said:
In order to further safeguard our users and their accounts, we are preparing to offer a 2-step verification feature.
For those who might not know, two-step verification is a process that requires users to enter two different factors to verify that they’re the real deal. Usually this is your login details, followed by a special code generated by your phone (or something similar).
Obviously this makes it harder to for hackers to get in to your account, as they would often need your mobile device for the second step. Provided you haven’t gotten yourself kidnapped by pirates or something, and your phone remains safely with you, then your account is twice as secure as before.
Funnily enough, Sony’s confirmation of this authentication process for the PSN comes fives years to the day after a massive hack to the service. Said attack forced Sony to shut down the network, and exposed personal information to (potentially) all of its 77 million registered accounts from the time.
The outage lasted 23 days and actually led to a Congressional inquiry. About time, then.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.