Remember 2011? Where Sony Interactive Entertainment’s security system was compromised. Hackers did different kinds of things with the PS3 and when the hack was made public, PS3 was essentially an open system where anyone could do anything with their PS3 with the right tools. Then there was 2014 where sensitive information of users were stolen.
Now, fast forward towards 2021, it seems like Millions of PS3 console IDs have been (may be all of them) compromised. Back in April, a video was made on Youtube (in Spanish), discussing this data breach and its consequences. If your Spanish is any good, you can watch it here:
However, if your Spanish is not that good like me, you can rely on this thread for the gist of it. Still confused? Well, in simple words, if the hackers have your console IDs, they can utilize them to do malicious things on your consoles. Based on these malicious activities, Sony’s system can ultimately ban your consoles.
Apparently, now, there have been more and more reports by the users for the consoles being banned. Sony’s PS3 was released back in 2006 and it was quite successful. A lot of great games were released on PS3. Recently, Sony decided to pull the plug on purchases from PlayStation store for PS3 and PS Vita but the decision was reversed based on the community feedback.
However, now that we are in 2021 where PS5 has been released, it’s natural that there is no to little support for such an old console. And unlike Microsoft, which allows users to enjoy the Xbox 360 games too, it makes little sense for Sony to support that old console actively.
While these reports are out there, a lot of users have reported that they have checked their PS3 consoles and they are working fine so far. Could it be that only the active consoles are being affected? We will need more data on it so it’s recommended that if you are among one of the affected, you should immediately contact support and frequently visit the relevant online communities for any updates on the matter.