SONY PlayStation Hacked
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
, Posted by JED at 4:23:00 PM
Sony Corp's Executive Deputy President Hirai sits in front of a screenshowing how their data was hacked at a news conference in Tokyo
NEW YORK — Sony Corp. said Monday that hackers may have taken personal information from an additional 24.6 million user accounts after a review of the recent PlayStation Network breach found an intrusion at a division that makes multiplayer online games.
The data breach comes on top of the 77 million PlayStation accounts it has already said were jeopardized by a malicious intrusion.
The latest incident occurred April 16 and 17 — earlier than the PlayStation break-in, which occurred from April 17 to 19, Sony said.
About 23,400 financial records from an outdated 2007 database involving people outside the U.S. may have been stolen in the newly discovered breach, including 10,700 direct debit records of customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, it said.
The outdated information contained credit card numbers, debit card numbers and expiration dates, but not the 3-digit security code on the back of credit cards.
The direct debit records included bank account numbers, customer names, account names and customer addresses.
Company spokeswoman Taina Rodriguez said Sony had no evidence the information taken from Sony Online Entertainment, or SOE, was used illicitly for financial gain.
“We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in the cyber-attacks on the company, but on May 1 we concluded that SOE account information may have been stolen and we are notifying you as soon as possible,” Sony said in a message to customers.
Sony said that it shut service Monday morning to Sony Online Entertainment games, which are available on personal computers, Facebook and the PlayStation 3 console. Its most popular games include ‘EverQuest,’ ‘Free Realms’ and ‘DC Universe Online.’
The company said it will grant players 30 days of additional time on their subscriptions, along with one day for each day the system is down. It is also creating a “make good” plan for its multiplayer online games.
On Sunday, Sony executives bowed in apology and said they would beef up security measures after an earlier breach caused it to shut down its PlayStation network on April 20.
The company is working with the FBI and other authorities to investigate what it called “a criminal cyber attack” on Sony’s data centre in San Diego, Calif.
The company said it would offer “welcome back” freebies such as complimentary downloads and 30 days of free service to PlayStation customers around the world to show remorse and appreciation.
PlayStation spokesman Patrick Seybold, in a blog post Monday, denied a report that said a group tried to sell millions of credit card numbers back to Sony.
He also said that while user passwords had not been encrypted, they were transformed using a simpler function called a hash that did not leave them exposed as clear text.
- Associated Press
first
Who cares, douche?
Really? Ouch!
so when can we expect it to be back up and running?
well here you go Sony...work on your gaming capabilities like you are supposed to and stop bragging that you have Blu-Ray. You are a video game system...be a video game system. Concentrate on what you do best. Obviously you don't care enough to keep security of your players a high priority.
two things. one im a die hard xbox live person and will never use playstation for any reason. and second of all. how can sony grant an additional 30 days on a subscription that doesnt cost anything to begin with?
as for the "die-hard" xbox live person... SO WHAT???
1. If you are a die hard xbox fan then why are you even commenting on a ps3 article? 2. It is called playstation plus retard
lol
who cares about xbox
I'm a die-hard xbox 360 fan too. haha. I find it funny how sony has gotten hacked twice. haha
whoever wrote this article is a retard the service costs nothing unless they are talking about playstation plus subscription.
and any of you who think xbox hasnt gone down before, it has before.
People really need to read first before putting on some comments.
PSN in general is free of charge, charges will be made upon purchase of games, dlc and such related contents.
PSN Plus is a fee-based program and rates depends on the package provided. As a PSN Plus user, you are given freebies on chosen games, dlc and such. You also get to dl demo first before free-users do.
That is the general overview of the PSN.
As for the issue, its sad, though, that the PSN got attacked and has caused the network a lot : time, money, credibility and possible sales and new users.
But as a user, i have faith in them that they are doing their job.
I guess those hackers or whatever you call it are desperate to make Sony's image and reputation go down. It only shows how reputable this is.
just to let ou now xbox 360 sucks. ps3 is waY beter and itisgoing to work on my 12 at 6:30pm n xbx liveomone jack @#$$*&%
360 sucks dick, wh would you wanna ruin something thats soooooooooooooooo good!
whoever hacked playstation for me ow i just have to talk to my mom and masterbate! im mad about only one of those decisions...
i have nothing to do except sit here and watch this site, i wish i had x-box... i would be having a much better weekend and my shaft would be much less hard then it is... I'M GONNA QUICK SCOPE YOUR HEAD OFF YOU LITTLE BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!