When we go online to our favorite websites these days, more often than not we log in to an account. Some accounts are used for apparently no reason than to spam you. In return, you get funny titles and irrelevant "awards" for visiting a site or posting so often. Others are used for tracking progress, monetary transactions, or to prove you aren't a computer. One thing that holds true is we have been creating and internet identity for ourselves.
We create accounts on websites, sometimes because we have to, but mainly to establish ourselves. More often than not, people keep the same name across all their accounts (especially in gaming, we want people to know how super awesome we are at every game), whether its for a message board, Xbox Live Account, or e-mail. We want a unique identity for ourselves, with a name we created that we aren't always connected to in real life. Our internet identities tend be an escape from our real ones. Many people, especially gamers, have internet friends that they have never met in real life. This is all fine and dandy, however, some of these accounts that we use require certain bits of information that link you back to your real life. Things like your address, middle name, credit card numbers- this is all information that we need to make sure we are doubly careful in protecting. As the user we can do so much - have unique passwords, don't share information, and generally be cautious about what websites we use.
In this day of having an internet identity, convenience has become a blessing and curse. Just think, would you rather, A.) use your credit card from the comfort of your house to buy a game, or B.) Get off the couch, drive to the store, wait in line, buy the game, and then drive back? The lazy in us says lets go with A because its easier, and there's nothing wrong with that, at least from your end. When we are allowed the convenience of being able to use a credit card with a company over the internet, we should be able to without worry or fear. I believe it should be the companies responsibility to protect the information we give them. With an online money transaction like buying a game, your full name, billing address, and card information are transferred and stored into a company database. This is information we don't want in the wrong hands, and of recently, its has been.
There have been many attacks against large gaming companies recently (Bioware, Sega, Sony) and this could cause some unwanted problems for a lot of us. Internet thieves have been hacking into the databases of these large companies and compromising personal info for many users in these databases. There is no telling what information has been taken and for what reason, but there is a leak. At first glance, you may not be so worried about your account. Let's say you had a PSN account that was compromised but you never used your credit card with it, no big deal right? Well, what if you used the same email address for another account in which you did? A thief with the right know how, and your email address could potentially scam his way into your credit card number. Then it's game over man. In you are like most people and you try to make your life simple by using 1 or 2 email addresses but with all the same information, you could be in danger if even one of your accounts gets compromised.
Now, this is not an article to scare people off the internet, this is a wake up call. We have been so accustomed to the internet infusing into our lives that we might have become careless. Until recently, we have felt pretty damn secure using our credit card on the internet with big name companies and we had every right to. But now, there is an alarming amount of attacks in a short period of times and I think it's time we re-evaluate how we do business. Until cyber-security gets back under control, we might have to suck it up and drive out to the video game store for our purchases. Let's face it, they carry most of what we need, subscription cards, marketplace currency, games,and we can pay for all of that with cash if we so choose. We shouldn't be scared of having an internet identity or participating in e-commerce, we just need to be careful. Some of the companies we have had so much faith in for security have shown that they aren't infallible.The point here, is that we might want to take a look our internet identity and try to tidy up any loose ends. It could save you a huge headache.
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