Sony to finally add two-factor authentication to the PlayStation Network

Sony’s finally working on adding two-factor authentication (2FA) to the PlayStation Network (PSN). One would have expected Sony to learn their lesson a long time ago and enable the feature sooner, but at least PSN users can now finally start breathing a bit easier.

2FA is an authentication system that requires not just a username and password, but also some form of third-party authentication in the form of a one-time password (OTP) on a mobile phone or email ID. TechCrunch reported on this development and points out that Microsoft already implemented 2FA 3 years ago.

Sony’s not really known for its security or for keeping its data in check. 2011 was the year Sony’s PSN was hacked, compromising the personal information of over 77 million users (the entire PSN userbase at the time). It was the largest hack of its kind and resulted in a PSN outage lasting 23 days.

The 2014 hack was also severe, resulting in a breach of Sony’s private servers and the leak of unfinished movies and a great deal of employees’ information. Sony did call that attack “unprecedented” and other words to that effect. The truth is that Sony was no more nor less vulnerable to attacks and other companies have suffered a similar fate.

The only point here is that both these events should have been significant enough to introduce 2FA a long time ago.