A Spanish YouTuber by the name of “WizWiki” warned back in April that the serial ID numbers for every PlayStation 3 had been leaked after Sony inadvertently left one of its network folders with the data open to public access. The allegation appears to have some level of legitimacy, as an increasing number of PS3 owners are now finding themselves banned from Sony’s networks, presumably as a result of malicious actions by threat actors. PS3 users who have been banned are being advised to enable two-factor authentication, which should let them sign back in without issue. Sony discontinued its PS3 consoles in North America in October 2016. (Warning: WizWiki’s video below opens with a defecating rhino.)
After enabling two-factor authentication (2FA), one player was able to sign back in without issue, according to posts on the PS3 subreddit, which includes a link to instructions on how to opt into 2FA on the PS3. It appears threat actors have started using the stolen PS3 console IDs for malicious purposes, causing the legitimate players to get banned. Another player on the PSNProfies forum put the stolen PS3 IDs and the ban together back on June 18.
Sources: PSN Profiles, Threatpost