Can PSN Hackers, Hack my PC? (Helldivers 2 Issue)

[ErpatGaming11]

Can PSN Hackers, Hack my PC? (Helldivers 2 Issue). I currently have sensitive information on my main PC, I have 2 PCs, one is a R5 5500, 16GB and a 1050ti and the other, my main PC is a R7 5700X3D, 32GB and a RX 6800. I want the best experience in gaming so gaming on my 2nd PC wont be a pleasant option.

 

Then again, can Can PSN Hackers, Hack my PC? I saw A lot of Issues going on that you need to link a PSN Account in order to play, but I don't play PS4/5 Consoles so I didn't know the issue of PSN servers are being hacked for personal information up until now. 

 

 

Can I just create a dummy email for a PSN Acc, specifically for Helldivers and will have NO THREATS to my sensitive files, so I ever PSN got hacked again, will my PC be safe? I have a lot of password and username on my PC of very important accounts. Thank you in advance!  

 

[da na]

Hacking a PlayStation Network account will not give anyone access to your personal files.

[TylerD321]

10 minutes ago, da na said:

Hacking a PlayStation Network account will not give anyone access to your personal files.

Assuming you don't do something dumb and use your main email with your main email's password.

[AndreiArgeanu]

They can't, database leaks involve the data that sony has about you, things like emails, passwords (usually encrypted), purchases, credit card info (also usually encrypted) and anything else sony might store. Obviously if you don't provide CC info then that won't get leaked.

[da na]

Just now, TylerD321 said:

Assuming you don't do something dumb and use your main email with your main email's password.

Unless you have Remote Desktop enabled I still don't see how that would grant any access to your computer

[Alex Atkin UK]

Gaming on a PC with sensitive information seems risky in general, at least for games using kernel level anti-cheat.

[Mark Kaine]

if you have sensitive information on your pc i would recommend to uninstall Helldivers immediately and especially the anti cheat which is a rootkit and HIGH security risk. hope this helps!

[Mark Kaine]

On 5/4/2024 at 4:29 AM, Alex Atkin UK said:

Gaming on a PC with sensitive information seems risky in general, at least for games using kernel level anti-cheat.

yup... topic almost seems like a setup, i mean how do people not know this?? 

[Erioch]

3 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

if you have sensitive information on your pc i would recommend to uninstall Helldivers immediately and especially the anti cheat which is a rootkit and HIGH security risk. hope this helps!

Yep.  As soon as I found out Helldivers 2 uses nProtect anti-cheat (rootkit), I hard noped out.

[Alex Atkin UK]

13 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

yup... topic almost seems like a setup, i mean how do people not know this?? 

Its such a massive security violation having anything root level, potentially puts the whole network at risk if it ever got exploited.

 

Fortunately I don't typically play online games, other than The Crew 2 / Motorfest.

[Caroline]

13 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

yup... topic almost seems like a setup, i mean how do people not know this?? 

Normies (not derogatory) typically don't read any opsec articles or blogs, and they use one computer and drive for everything, do stuff like keep cookies, passwords, and banking information saved in the browser.

 

nProtect is script kiddie stuff compared to Vanguard (Riot -> Tencent -> CCP, in a nutshell), who knows the kind of data mining that thing does, it has kernel level access and runs at all times, even if you're not playing the games. It can't be uninstalled by normal means nor deleted or its services stopped, except via the Riot launcher, and even then I wouldn't trust the files are truly deleted. Been reading about it and other malwares disguised as "Anti-Cheat".

Perhaps the worst thing it's that Windows allows these programs to be installed without a single warning, you can also install them without Administrator access (normal User account).

 

Shady af in every way. Same as certain DRM programs, like Shituvo Denuvo. Ew.

[xwacasc]

2 hours ago, Caroline said:

Normies (not derogatory) typically don't read any opsec articles or blogs, and they use one computer and drive for everything, do stuff like keep cookies, passwords, and banking information saved in the browser.

 

nProtect is script kiddie stuff compared to Vanguard (Riot -> Tencent -> CCP, in a nutshell), who knows the kind of data mining that thing does, it has kernel level access and runs at all times, even if you're not playing the games. It can't be uninstalled by normal means nor deleted or its services stopped, except via the Riot launcher, and even then I wouldn't trust the files are truly deleted. Been reading about it and other malwares disguised as "Anti-Cheat".

Perhaps the worst thing it's that Windows allows these programs to be installed without a single warning, you can also install them without Administrator access (normal User account).

 

Shady af in every way. Same as certain DRM programs, like Shituvo Denuvo. Ew.

every piece of software can be an attack vector, kernel-level or not... i.e. supply chain issues like the famous libavif buffer overflow exploit.  i remember one time i accidentally downloaded a typo-squatted package on npm and i had to clean that computer out.  an article about this that stuck out to me months ago during reading was https://www.pushtotalk.gg/p/the-gamers-do-not-understand-anti-cheat.  in short, life is honestly too short to worry about these things 

[demonix00]

On 5/6/2024 at 3:23 PM, Mark Kaine said:

if you have sensitive information on your pc i would recommend to uninstall Helldivers immediately and especially the anti cheat which is a rootkit and HIGH security risk. hope this helps!

At least it's not an always on kernel level massive security risk of an anti cheat *cough* vanguard *cough*

[TylerD321]

6 hours ago, Phantasmagoria said:

how so? and how do i know if i got stuff like this installed and how do i uninstall it

Pretty much if you play a game that uses Easy Anti Cheat or BattlEye it has kernel level anti cheat.

 

Games like Fortnite, apex, and pubg use these. You can google what exact games are using them though.

 

Theres not really a good way to uninstall them other than reinstalling windows. They leave files in your operating system even when uninstalled which is where the concern arises. A hacker could theoretically exploit these.

[seanondemand]

I love how some normal-ass people think they’re going to get hacked. Unless you’re famous, obscenely wealthy, highly placed at a Fortune 500 company, or investigating human rights abuses in a dictatorship, no one gives two shits about you and your online banking such that they would put in the time and effort to target you, Joe Normal, and put in the effort and blow some zero-days to hack your Facebook account. 
 

stop stressing, play your games, keep Microsoft defender up to date, back up your stuff regularly. 

[thevictor390]

21 minutes ago, seanondemand said:

I love how some normal-ass people think they’re going to get hacked. Unless you’re famous, obscenely wealthy, highly placed at a Fortune 500 company, or investigating human rights abuses in a dictatorship, no one gives two shits about you and your online banking such that they would put in the time and effort to target you, Joe Normal, and put in the effort and blow some zero-days to hack your Facebook account. 
 

stop stressing, play your games, keep Microsoft defender up to date, back up your stuff regularly. 

To be clear, they will try to "hack" you, but they will do it with zero-effort spam texts to get you to click a phishing link, or by hacking someone else and using the stolen information without any direct involvement from you or your stuff (which is where a modicum of actual concern about Sony comes from).

[seanondemand]

Just now, thevictor390 said:

To be clear, they will try to "hack" you, but they will do it with zero-effort spam texts to get you to click a phishing link, or by hacking someone else and using the stolen information without any direct involvement from you or your stuff (which is where a modicum of actual concern about Sony comes from).

To get kind of pedantic, I would call your first example more of a scam than a hack - the second is more valid. But the amount of extra risk in this example relative to all the other places sensitive data about you already exists is a pretty small amount. 

[thevictor390]

Just now, seanondemand said:

To get kind of pedantic, I would call your first example more of a scam than a hack - the second is more valid. But the amount of extra risk in this example relative to all the other places sensitive data about you already exists is a pretty small amount. 

That's why I put "hack" in quotes. But most people who had that happen to them would say their account got hacked.