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Today marks the long-awaited return of the PlayStation Store, but one hacker has said that the network will remain unsafe until Sony hires hackers directly to test its security.
"Most big corporations have what’s called an annual security audit and they go out and hire outside security companies," Ligatt Security International’s Gregory Evans told Industry Gamers.
"But they’re nothing but a bunch of IT managers who went out and got a bunch of certifications and now they come in to see if your system is truly hacker proof. These IT managers who take the test to become a certified computer hacker or a CISSP (Certified Information System SecurityProfessional) have to work in a lab and hack into a system that’s in a controlled environment.
"The problem is that a true computer hacker will hack into a system where the other person doesn’t know that they’re being hacked into. It’s not a controlled environment. So why isn’t Sony hiring hackers to see if their system is hacker proof? People who wonder why Sony has been hacked multiple times; it’s because they’re relying on the wrong people to secure their system."
Evans also thinks Sony has been punished for its honesty, and that corporate hacks happen all the time – only most are never reported.
"Sony has about 100 million customers out when they got hacked, they’re out there at the forefront of the news, but big corporations get hacked every single day," he added. "Only 17 per cent of companies whose computers were hacked report them to law enforcement due to fear of negative publicity. 90 per cent of Fortune 500 networks have been hacked."
Furthermore, Evans believes that online gaming in itself represents a significant security threat that most gamers aren’t aware of.
"It’s not just Sony gamers that are at risk. It’s anyone who has any online gaming console like Xbox or Wii. Nothing’s 100 percent secure," he warns. "Even if Sony had never been hacked, when anybody goes online to do anything, play games, search the internet… you’re always taking a risk that somebody might get your information.
"When you’re connected to your Wi-Fi and you’re playing online games it’s opening up hundreds of ports. Each one of those ports is like a door that a hacker can use to bypass your firewall and get into your computer. In the gaming community, most people don’t even know this is happening."
