I'm going to keep this article as short and sweet as possible because it's important for you to read. I’m sure you already heard that Sony’s gaming network, PSN, was hacked, and over 70 million people had their credit cards exposed. If it affected you, you probably already called your credit card company, and they made you feel warm and safe.

But I wanted to make you aware that the real problem with this hack is not just stolen credit card numbers. In fact, since the three-digit security codes on the cards were not stolen the risk is much smaller. (Sony has also claimed that they insured all 70 million users for up to a million dollars a piece.) The biggest problem is your name, email address, and password were all stolen as plain text. If you are one of those people that use your same email address and password for just about everything, you absolutely must take the time to change your password everywhere. If you have a PayPal, Ebay account, Amazon, bank account, or anything else associated with that email and password, well … you can start to see where the real risk of fraud can take place.

PSN user or not, it’s still a good time to change your passwords everywhere. Try to use a mix of numbers, uppercase letters, and lowercase letters, and don’t use a real word that is found in the dictionary. A good hint is to use a made-up acronym. For example, if you have three dogs named Fluffy, Spot, and Killer, you might create a password from the first letters of each word in the phrase “I love my 3 dogs, Fluffy, Spot, and Killer” – which would become Ilm3dFSK. Easy to remember, but difficult to guess!

If you have any questions about IdeaEngine, our security with the SyncShow Hacker Scanner that is built into our latest websites or any other questions related to web security, please don't hesitate to contact me. Make sure you pass this on to anyone that has a PS3 game console so they are aware of the risks. You can pass this on by click the 'Email Story' button below.

Have a great day,
Dan Carbone