Sony Playstation suffers massive data breach

[Arch Stanton]

Sony Playstation suffers massive data breach

Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:43pm EDT
* Stolen data could include credit card information

* Birth dates, addresses, emails, names taken - Sony

* "Largest theft on record" of personal data - analyst

* Sony shares in Tokyo rise 0.5 pct (Adds stock price, detail)

By Liana B. Baker and Tim Kelly

NEW YORK/TOKYO, April 27 (Reuters) - Sony Corp suffered a massive breach in its video game online network that led to the theft of names, addresses and possibly credit card data belonging to 77 million user accounts in what is one of the largest-ever Internet security break-ins.

Sony said it learned of the breach in its PlayStation Network on April 19, prompting it to shut down the network immediately. Sony did not tell the public until Tuesday, hours after it launched its new tablet computers in Japan.

The electronics conglomerate is the latest Japanese company to come under fire for not disclosing bad news quickly. Tokyo Electric Power Co was criticized for how it handled the nuclear crisis after the March 11 earthquake. Last year, Toyota Motor Corp was slammed for being less than forthright about problems over a massive vehicle recall. [ID:nN20150756]

An "illegal and unauthorized person" obtained people's names, addresses, email address, birth dates, usernames, passwords, logins, security questions and more, Sony said on its U.S. PlayStation blog on Tuesday.

Read more:http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/27/sony-stolendata-idUSN2629730720110427?rpc=401

[CowboyDan]

Well this sucks! I still love PS3 though, so I'm just hanging in there until they get it fixed.

[RoyTheHammer]

Well this sucks! I still love PS3 though, so I'm just hanging in there until they get it fixed.

Bet you won't love Sony when you become another victim of identity theft..

[CowboyDan]

Bet you won't love Sony when you become another victim of identity theft..

Yeah, me and 70 million others, right?

Tell me something, what exactly can someone steal with my PS3 login and password, and email address?

[TheCowboy]

Yeah, me and 70 million others, right?

Tell me something, what exactly can someone steal with my PS3 login and password, and email address?
Your CC information and the name and address you entered when you first signed up for PSN.

[CowboyDan]

Your CC information and the name and address you entered when you first signed up for PSN.

Well, I've never, ever, entered credit card info into PSN.
My name and address are in the phone book. Have been for 20+ years.

[Ren]

They're going to have a hard time going trough 70+ million accounts to weed out the real once from the fake once. On one of my accounts my address is the white house. It's fairly common on PSN to have multiple accounts to access content that is blocked from your region. Unless you're extremely unlucky you should be fairly safe if you change your log inn details right away when PSN is back up.

What really pisses me off is how it took Sony almost a week to issue this warning when they shut down the service cause of hacking they should have issues this warning right away

[DallasEast]

Well, this certainly sucks. I've rented way too many movies and a handful of games through PSN. Guess I'll finally give in to those pestering Equifax identity theft watch emails and upgrade my account. :mad:

[Doomsday]

It would be really easy to weed out the fake from the real account information. The accounts with credit card info stored are going to be real.

This has me a bit concerned though, the other day my email address (the one I used for my PS3 account) was used to purchase a large amount of auto supplies but it my credit card wasnt. The mailing address was in California and they had the same name as me. My last name isnt exactly common Camire. Guess I am going to have to keep an eye on my credit report as well. I know they cant do anything with my email address but it does seem like they have my info. Why would someone make a big purchase and give a bogus email address? Ive had that yahoo email for 10 years now.

[Ren]

It would be really easy to weed out the fake from the real account information. The accounts with credit card info stored are going to be real.



My fake one actually has a CC stored on it (thankfully it has expired), it's normal in Europe to buy things off the PSN store that is not available here.
Even if they are able to log in to your account it's going to show up as xxxx with only the last 4 digits and expiration date showing, if they have your 4 digit security number as well which Sony is saying probably has not been compromised (usually on the other side of the card) they can buy things from your account but they won't have the entire number to be able to use your info anywhere but on PSN so changing your log in details should hopefully be enough.

At least if what Sony is saying is true, i can't say i trust them all that much right now and i will not be buying anything of PSN with a CC again. if there's something i really want on there i'll use prepaid cards from now on

[Joshmvii]

FYI, if you go to Experian.com, or the websites of the other 2 credit agencies, you can sign up to get a fraud alert put on your credit, which will last 90 days and force anybody who wants to grant you credit to go through extra steps such as calling you to verify, or sending paperwork to your house if you don't give the phone number.

It won't have any effect on your credit score, and unless you're trying to be granted credit it won't even inconvenience you, but I'd suggest anybody who had their information in there to do so. I think it'll be hard for the thief to try to open any accounts without having the SSN of the people, but I am not taking any chances. If you do this once, the credit agency will notify the other 2 to add the fraud alert as well.

[LeonDixson]

Well, I've never, ever, entered credit card info into PSN.
My name and address are in the phone book. Have been for 20+ years.
Fibber! I looked in the book under the "C"s and didn't see CowboyDan anywhere.

[CowboyDan]

Fibber! I looked in the book under the "C"s and didn't see CowboyDan anywhere.

Classic :bow:

[Doomsday]

FYI, if you go to Experian.com, or the websites of the other 2 credit agencies, you can sign up to get a fraud alert put on your credit, which will last 90 days and force anybody who wants to grant you credit to go through extra steps such as calling you to verify, or sending paperwork to your house if you don't give the phone number.

It won't have any effect on your credit score, and unless you're trying to be granted credit it won't even inconvenience you, but I'd suggest anybody who had their information in there to do so. I think it'll be hard for the thief to try to open any accounts without having the SSN of the people, but I am not taking any chances. If you do this once, the credit agency will notify the other 2 to add the fraud alert as well.

Thanks for the info, I went ahead and signed up for it. Id rather be safe then sorry.

[DIAF]

i went ahead and cancelled my card and have a new one issued to me. Best to play it safe.

[Dallas]

Well, this certainly sucks. I've rented way too many movies and a handful of games through PSN. Guess I'll finally give in to those pestering Equifax identity theft watch emails and upgrade my account. :mad:

Honestly it's one of the best things you can do for yourself. We had an issue w/ our state's retirement and benefits division last year losing our information during an audit. The actual auditor lost the information but they gave every employee free credit monitoring for 5 years.

I am constantly updated when anyone BREATHS on my credit report.


Kinda nice...and great peace of mind.

[Dallas]

Thanks for the info, I went ahead and signed up for it. Id rather be safe then sorry.


You won't be sorry. :starspin Great service and it ACTUALLY works. :D

[Hoofbite]

i went ahead and cancelled my card and have a new one issued to me. Best to play it safe.

Yeah, good call.

There's a commentator on YouTube who claims to have been ransacked for about $500.

Said his bank took care of the problem but if true, it's gonna be a hell of a PR hit for Sony.

[BraveHeartFan]

Just another reason I'm thrilled I went with XBox and that I don't have a Credit Card or Credit Card information on my profile for people to hack and steal.

Sucks for PSN users. I feel bad for you folks.

[DIAF]

Just another reason I'm thrilled I went with XBox and that I don't have a Credit Card or Credit Card information on my profile for people to hack and steal.

Sucks for PSN users. I feel bad for you folks.

I wouldn't be that thrilled. Its a virtual certainty that xbl will get hacked at some point. Best thing you can do is move to/keep using point cards. That's what i'm going to do from now on.

[BraveHeartFan]

I wouldn't be that thrilled. Its a virtual certainty that xbl will get hacked at some point. Best thing you can do is move to/keep using point cards. That's what i'm going to do from now on.


Yeah I know. You made that 'fortune teller' prediction in the other thread. You might remember the post. It was in the same one that you thought you were clever by asking someone else if they were a fortune teller.

So, yeah, I think I'll stay thrilled. Thanks though. :)

[DIAF]

Yeah I know. You made that 'fortune teller' prediction in the other thread. You might remember the post. It was in the same one that you thought you were clever by asking someone else if they were a fortune teller.

So, yeah, I think I'll stay thrilled. Thanks though. :)

There's no 'fortune telling' about it. This sort of thing happens all the time. Identity theft results in something like 50 billion dollars a year. Wouldn't you want to mitigate some of that risk if you can?

[RoyTheHammer]

Yeah I know. You made that 'fortune teller' prediction in the other thread. You might remember the post. It was in the same one that you thought you were clever by asking someone else if they were a fortune teller.

So, yeah, I think I'll stay thrilled. Thanks though. :)

:muttley:

[BraveHeartFan]

There's no 'fortune telling' about it. This sort of thing happens all the time. Identity theft results in something like 50 billion dollars a year. Wouldn't you want to mitigate some of that risk if you can?


What risk? My CC information isn't on my XBox or my account. And you are guessing that something will happen, that has a shot of happening, the same as the other person was that PSN will eventually start getting people to pay.

Will either happen? Probably. Do we know for sure either way? No.