Sony has announced that it is finally enabling two-step verification on PlayStation Network accounts, more than half a decade after the first cracks in its security were discovered.
Sony's PlayStation Network service has something of a chequered history: when it's not down due to distributed denial of service attacks it's having user accounts breached in a variety of manners. In April 2011, the service's largest and most famous breach took place, resulting in the theft and abuse of personal information from millions of users - including 2.2 million valid credit card details - resulting in a £250,000 fine from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in 2013.
Despite this, and calls for tighter security from its customers, Sony is only just now getting around to enabling two-step verification on the service. Available now as an optional additional security measure which can be enabled on the official PlayStation.com website, the two-step verification sends a confirmation code to a user's phone via SMS when a PSN sign-in is needed. While considered weak and vulnerable to attack compared with true two-factor authentication (2FA) systems, SMS verification is still leagues ahead of any security measures Sony has previously offered.
Microsoft's rival platform, Xbox Live, has supported two-step verification since 2013.
Sony's PlayStation Network service has something of a chequered history: when it's not down due to distributed denial of service attacks it's having user accounts breached in a variety of manners. In April 2011, the service's largest and most famous breach took place, resulting in the theft and abuse of personal information from millions of users - including 2.2 million valid credit card details - resulting in a £250,000 fine from the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) in 2013.
Despite this, and calls for tighter security from its customers, Sony is only just now getting around to enabling two-step verification on the service. Available now as an optional additional security measure which can be enabled on the official PlayStation.com website, the two-step verification sends a confirmation code to a user's phone via SMS when a PSN sign-in is needed. While considered weak and vulnerable to attack compared with true two-factor authentication (2FA) systems, SMS verification is still leagues ahead of any security measures Sony has previously offered.
Microsoft's rival platform, Xbox Live, has supported two-step verification since 2013.
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