Playstation is one of the two most popular gaming consoles on the market, competing with xbox for the number one spot. One of the issues that players run into is other players hacking their accounts. People do this, not only for the credit card information on the accounts but also to steal other player’s’ progress on certain games. People can spend hours, days and even weeks worth of time on different video games to achieve certain levels and achievements. People that get these accounts can use them for their own benefit or sell them for a good amount of money. It can be extremely frustrating as the owner of the account to have all your hard work taken, seemingly out of nowhere. Here are some of things you can do to make sure you’re account isn’t hacked on playstation:
2FA
2 factor authentication is one of the easiest and most effective ways to make sure you don’t get hacked. Fortnite is probably one of the best with this, a while back they offered a free skin (in game character outfit) to anyone that enabled it on their account. People signed up for it, with no idea why it’s even important, it was a genius strategy. But the reason they did it is that when an account has 2FA enabled someone can’t login to your account with just your username and password. 2FA sends a code to your phone or email when you try to login, so if a hacker doesn’t have access to those, they won’t be able to login. Also, if you start randomly getting codes sent when you’re not trying to login, you know someone is trying to login to your account and you can change your password right away. To activate 2FA on ps4:
Go to [Settings] > [Account Management] > [Account Information] > [Security].
Select [2-Step Verification], then select [Set Up Now].
Carefully enter your mobile number and select [Add].
After selecting [Add], you will receive a text with verification code.
Enter the text verification code in the PS4™ screen.
A text is sent to your phone verifying the activation of 2-step verification.
The next screen will confirm that 2-step verification is activated. You will be signed out of your accounts on all PlayStation® devices. Make sure you read the on-screen information to decide on the best option for you. Click [OK].
Generate single-use backup codes. You will need backup codes if your phone can’t receive texts, is lost or stolen or has a dead battery so store them somewhere safe.
Strong Passwords
You want to make your passwords difficult to guess. Weak passwords are one of main ways that people’s accounts get hacked. Rule of thumb when making a password, make it at least 8-12 characters long, use lowercase and uppercase, numbers and special characters. Don’t use numbers in a sequence like 1234, this increases the chance of someone being able to guess your password.
Don’t share your account details with anyone
Don’t give out your account information to anyone unless you’re willing to risk getting hacked. Since many gamers are young, people often try to trick them into giving out their account information by promising you that they will help you in the game, give you money or something like that. Don’t do it… the only people you should consider letting on your account are close friends and family and even then they might take your account so be aware. If you do give it out to someone in your family or friend group, change your password afterwards so they can’t hack you if you guys have an argument or falling out later on.
Don’t click weird links
Be careful of any links to the PSN website that come from someone you don’t know or has a weird looking url. One method people use is to create a webpage that looks identical to the PSN website and when someone clicks on the link and puts in their login information, it is sent to the hacker instead. Then they refresh the page and redirect you to the real website so that you login and never notice that something was off.
Hide Your Real Name
PSN gives you the option to hide your real name from everyone, including close friends. If you add people you meet online to play with later, this may be a good option for you. You do not want people looking you up and finding any information about you without your knowledge. People can use the information they find to impersonate you and eventually get access to your account by calling in to PSN and pretending to be you. To hide your real name on PS4:
Go to the profile on the main homepage
Click the three dots next to online status, then Privacy Settings
Select personal Info Messaging
Select no one for the three real name options
Use a different email for your PSN
Your email address represents half of what someone needs to hack your PSN account. If you are really worried about being hacked, it would be a good idea to create an email address just for your PSN. That way it’s highly unlikely that anyone will know what your login email is and they will have to do twice the work they usually would.
Use Good Security Questions
Security questions are used to reset your password and prove that you are the owner of the account. Make sure your security questions aren’t vague enough that anyone who knows you would be able to answer these or else you make it much easier for someone to hack your account.
Avoid joining parties with people you don’t know
A few people I know have been hacked shortly after joining parties with people that they don’t know. While I don’t know any direct ways that this can cause a hack to happen, if you start talking about yourself and giving away information about who you are, where you live, your birthday or things like this it can be used against you. This information can be used to help guess answers to security questions, impersonate you to customer support and more. Be very careful who you talk to online.
What to do when you get hacked
In the event that you do get hacked, you want to call PSN support right away. To increase the chance that they are able to help you, here’s what the information you want to have beforehand:
1) The email you had for your account before it was hacked
2) A time range on when the password and email was changed
3) The address you used and any phone numbers that were linked to it
4) PSN ID
5) Be ready to answer the security questions you created
Recap
To make sure your PSN account is safe you want to make sure you enable 2FA and create strong passwords, so it is much harder for someone to guess your login information. Don’t give out your account information or answers to your security questions to anyone you don’t fully trust. Be careful of clicking any links to login to PSN, go to google and go to the website yourself to avoid being tricked by a fake webpage. Lastly, you can hide your real name and avoid talking about yourself to anyone online that you don’t know, this way your personal information can’t be used to impersonate you.