There was a time when safes and lockers were used to protect valuables and signatures used to authenticate documents. But the planet has adopted firewalls and digital signatures as security measures, but the crime is still the same. One of the most prestigious gaming and technology companies, Sony, is today facing a problem of security breach, and the gaming super giant hasn’t got a clue as to who broke into their systems.

It’s a tough time for the gaming fans as they are now being deprived of the shoot-them ups and other multiplayer platforms that the PS3 offers. The breach happened sometime between the 17^th and 19^th April and the entertainment company has been discreet with their problems. The Sony networks were shut down immediately on the 19^th of April, but the customers weren’t given a hint of the breach until the 26^th April, only after it had unveiled the new S1 and S2 tablets. The security breach at the Sony networks puts the personal data and information of millions of users, including credit card and contact information at great risk. The credit card companies have been monitoring the customers whose personal data has been compromised but no suspicious behavior has been noticed yet. However, the lack of malicious behavior did not stop Sony’s share in the Tokyo Stock Exchange to fall by a drastic 4.8 per cent in a week, taking it to their all-time lowest since 2009.

Online multiplayer gaming is one of the most upcoming industries and the security pins and ids are entrusted to particular servers here. The security breach shook a lot of gamers worldwide and their ids and accounts can be hacked at any time, and unfortunately they are helpless and can do nothing about it. The gaming account is very vital for the customer and all purchases and transactions are done through this account registered at the main server and hacking these account will land the Sony Playstation customers in a huge fix. Gaming today is more of an addiction rather than a hobby to the core gamers who spend most of their free time indulged in front of the console, and the security breach could end up rendering their accounts useless, resulting in huge losses and a great moral setback.

Technology today has reached great heights, but as you rise up the ladder the risk of falling down also increases. There used to be times when people used to walk or use an animal for travelling, but in the modern world no distance is too far with the use of cars and other modes of transportation. But the dark side to this technological convenience is that there are more than 4 hundred thousand people killed in road accidents in South Asia alone. Technology has a lot to offer, but we need to exercise caution in choosing what is good for us, and what might harm us. In a world that has people using complicated devices to save human lives and also with people who use advanced weapons to take it away, it is really difficult to comment whether the use of technology has actually done good to the human race or whether it is a curse upon us. But what we must understand is that the biggest issue in today’s scenario is trust, and the virtual world was never a safe place to live in.

Social networking is just a click away, connecting you to your family and friends at far off places, but sharing of photographs and personal information on public forums could be a risky business. Proper security measures must be adopted while you are posting a picture or contact information of yourself on a social networking site such as Facebook. Make sure you keep the visibility to friends only and try not to accept unknown contacts. Security measures also include choosing different passwords for your different email accounts and always carefully unchecking the option of remembering username and password on the browser when you access your account from public computers or a cyber café. Revealing your passwords to friends or family members could be risky, not because you can’t trust them, but because they may end up making it easier for a hacker to access your accounts as they may not be very careful with the internet security measures. So make a wise move, and get the pleasure of technology, without having to suffer its ill effects.

Shahenshah Jaffri

Shahenshah is a computer science engineer who likes to do things differently. He spends most of his time with the love of his life which is his computer, using it mostly for gaming and writing and has a incredible knack for peppering humour into his life.