PlayStation podcaster reveals how hackers stole his PSN account with a phone call

by

Colin Moriarty, a popular podcaster on the PlayStation Network, had his PSN account stolen during a live stream on Monday. The hackers didn’t just guess his password – they used a surprisingly direct method to take it over.

While live on his stream, Moriarty of Sacred Symbols lost access to his account. Hackers successfully impersonated him by contacting Sony support with details like his email and old purchase information – similar to what you’d find on a receipt. This allowed them to bypass his two-factor authentication and take control of the account.

He managed to get the account back within three hours, but that was thanks to relationships he’d developed over twenty years working in the gaming press at Sony. It would have been nearly impossible for anyone else to resolve the issue so quickly.

How hackers bypassed every security measure on his account

According to security expert Moriarty on the recent Sacred Symbols podcast, even strong passwords, two-factor authentication, and passkeys aren’t enough to guarantee your online security.

(Topic starts at 44:56)

He described how surprisingly easy it is to access someone’s PlayStation Network account. All it takes is their email address, a bit of easily obtainable information – like the date they purchased a game – and a helpful customer service representative at one of the company’s international call centers. That’s all there is to it.

Moriarty was trying to get his account back when he received a call that looked like it was from Sony support. It was actually the hackers, who were pretending to be Sony representatives and following up on a supposed case. He gave them information before someone who had been monitoring the hacks for months contacted him and warned him to stop.

“You just talked to the hacker,” they told him.

After Sony blocked the attackers, they inadvertently triggered a fail-safe. The attackers used Moriarty’s compromised account to send offensive messages and then reported them, causing Sony’s automatic system to ban him—even after he regained control of the account. Although the ban was eventually lifted, it required help from his professional network. The Sony representative handling the issue seemed aware of the situation, admitting it reminded him of something he’d seen before.

So, a security researcher named Moriarty figured out that hackers are going after specific types of PlayStation players. It looks like they’re targeting well-known gamers, people who are really into getting every single trophy, and even those of us who’ve had PSN accounts since way back in 2006 or 2007 – apparently, those old, short usernames are valuable! Most of the time, they’re stealing accounts to sell them. You can actually find stolen accounts for sale on places like Instagram and Telegram, and the older US accounts seem to be the most expensive ones.

According to reports, the two players with the most championship wins of all time have both had their online accounts hacked and haven’t been able to get them back.

He explained that his case was resolved quickly because he benefited from his prominent position within the PlayStation community. He acknowledged that these were advantages most people don’t have.

He gave straightforward advice to those worried about this issue: simply changing your password or turning on two-factor authentication won’t stop this attack. The only effective solution, he explained, is to use a unique email address specifically for your PlayStation Network account – one you don’t use anywhere else. Without access to that email address, the attack can’t succeed.

Sony had not responded publicly to the vulnerability at the time of writing.

Want to learn more about keeping your PlayStation Network (PSN) account safe? We’ve got a guide to setting up passkeys on your PS4 and PS5, plus a detailed look at what caused last year’s 20-hour PSN outage.

Read More

2026-05-22 22:49