Sony Admits PlayStation Network Hacker Stole User Data

If you have a PlayStation Network account, it's time to change your password and be on the lookout for suspicious emails.

Sony has confirmed that user data--names, email addresses, home addresses, passwords, and possibly even credit card information--have been compromised in the "illegal and unauthorized intrusion" that occurred between April 17 and April 19 and has resulted in the worldwide PSN outage, which is now in its sixth day.

By Sony's count, 70 million users subscribe to the cloud-based PSN, which lets users play games, stream entertainment content and connect with one another around the world. The company has not revealed how many of its users have been affected by the data breach.

Patrick Seybold, Sony's director of corporate communications and social media in the United States, explained the security breach in a blog post.

"[W]e believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained," the post listed.

"While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility," the post continued. "If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained."

Sony cautioned users to be wary of phishing attacks, as well as postal and telephone scams. The company also suggested that PSN customers change their usernames and passwords--once the service is back online, that is.

While an earlier post said that the PSN outage would continue "indefinitely," Seybold now writes, "We have a clear path to have PlayStation Network and Qriocity systems back online, and expect to restore some services within a week."

Comments

[99er2049er]

12:30 PM on 04/30/2011

I asked this question before, but didn't get an answer. Does anybody know if you can sign up with the PSN network using a PSN card (say one bought from Best Buy), without having to enter your credit card?

I know I bought a PSN card from Best Buy and entered it, I just don't remember if I had to enter my credit card info in there as well.

[99er2049er]

12:28 PM on 04/30/2011

Instead of firing predator drones at Libya and Pakistan, maybe we could take out some of the Nigerian Internet Cafe's instead!!!

[vulcanman]

03:25 PM on 04/28/2011

One more reason why one should use One-Time use credit card numbers (i.e. ShopSafe) when conducting such transactions.

[99er2049er]

12:31 PM on 04/30/2011

I had to declare bankruptcy, so I don't have any credit cards anymore, only a debit card. I am scared to death to use this at any suspicious location, e.g. at the parking lot the other day when it required several dollars and wouldn't take cash. Thankfully my girlfriend had her credit card. I guess I should buy one of those one time credit cards. I would like one that doesn't expire or force in monthly fees. Just an emergency one I can keep around.

[sking007]

11:21 PM on 04/27/2011

What's really wrong with this picture is everyone will pay for it through higher bank fees. Who do you think will pay for the re-issuance of all those credit cards? Not Sony.

[GatsNcrackerS]

10:06 PM on 04/27/2011

Check out your local craigslist, there are lots O gamers trading their PS3's for 360's! I scrolled through and saw about a dozen jumping ship already!

[99er2049er]

12:33 PM on 04/30/2011

I still wouldn't jump to the X Box because of the monthly fee to have access to the network or Internet. Also I avoided the X Box because I ran across thousands of people that experienced the red ring of death. Even people I knew ran into this problem and on the message boards everyone was complaining about this problem. Unless you paid for the extended warranty, you were hosed. Did microsoft finally solve this problem?

[GatsNcrackerS]

02:00 PM on 04/30/2011

You know what? Microsoft did fix the red ring of death. The last chip set they used before the slim came out So, the MW2 special edition 360 was using the Falcon chip. I had an xbox 360 that I did not buy the warranty on and after 1 year it took a dump on me with the red ring! I am a PS guy now and I am not jumping ship but, the hard core gamers(need to play everyday) are having trouble waiting this out. I like the new slim 360 but, honestly I am shocked MS has been able to keep so many fan boys loyal with all the red ring and so forth!

[CelticFan]

08:06 PM on 04/27/2011

I just got the email 5 hours ago. Its a good thing I keep up on this sort of thing eh? I suspected things were gonna get bad by day two. I didn't know it would be this bad though. At first I just wanted to get some co-op Portal 2 action going on. Now I'm watching my credit/banking, changing all passwords, dumping my email for a new one etc.

P.S. Protip: I managed to link my Steam and PSN accounts when the network came back up for a second on Wednesday night. Then last night I realized I used the same password nfor both my PSN and steam accounts, I cant be the only one. Change that ish lickedy split.

If and when things get back to normal, any huffposters wanna join me for some Portal 2 co-op?
Ive slowed right down on the single player campaign only putting a level or two a night.

[Abdi S]

07:14 PM on 04/27/2011

Sony have learn a big lesson, and I will advice them next time do not make enemies with professional hackers.

[troutboy]

05:14 PM on 04/27/2011

anyone notice the similarity of Sony's network hack response and the statements of TEPCO & the Japanese government regarding the nuclear reactor crisis? say very little about the problems while trying to fix them hoping to avoid embarrassment and financial losses...ultimately being more embarrassed when the truth comes out....

[CelticFan]

07:46 PM on 04/27/2011

Noticed it right away. What is it with Japan lately?

Biggest auto recall (Toyota)
Biggest nuclear disaster (Tepco)
Biggest data breach (PSN)

this canuck thinks they are trying to out "Number 1" you guys ; )

[apartoflife]

04:46 PM on 04/27/2011

Optical is dead eh Steve Jobs? The future is Cloud streaming eh Steve Jobs? If it's dead then we'll have a future of identity theft and downed services.

[Tanker10a]

04:44 PM on 04/27/2011

My PS3 spends more time collecting dust than gaming...more power to these hackers.
The last place that I would surrender my credit card information is on a game console...PLEASE?!

[99er2049er]

12:36 PM on 04/30/2011

I'm pretty sure I just bought a PSN card from Best Buy as I can't get through to Sony to check my debit card. I have checked with the bank and nobody has run any charges on my card. It seems like every few months someone is hacking into sites and getting info about us. Remember that recent one where somebody hacked into that major email marketing company and stole tens of millions of peoples email addresses, etc.?

[sunnyskyevryday]

06:05 PM on 05/04/2011

Well a lot of us do use our Ps3 far more then it seems you do and unfortunately I was one who did put my CC info onto PSN expecting it to be secure.. I guess i was just naive and you can guarantee it will not happen again that's for sure. I just wish Sony would get there collective head out of there...... and admit its security failed and move on to a way to retract info and prevent it from happening again. check out my blog post about this here if your looking for a decent read... http://productservicereview.com/

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

04:08 PM on 04/27/2011

Why did it take Sony so long to admit that our data was compromised?

Because they had hoped to fix it quick enough that they never had to let us know. Any other explanation doesn't make sense. And even then, they 'trickled' information out.

Trust me, they knew what happened. That's WHY they took such drastic action. This BS being fed to us by Sony has almost convinced me not to repair my PS3. (I almost never use it anyway.)

[yukonsam]

03:15 PM on 04/27/2011

Save some of that invective for the criminals that committed this act. Sony's made some highly questionable decisions over the years, but they and their users are the targets in this case. The bupptirates behind the hack are the bad guys, and there's no rational justification for it.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

04:04 PM on 04/27/2011

The fact that this was possible shows incredible negligence on the part of SONY.

If a someone robs a store, then by all means blame the robber. If a store leaves money in the register and it's unlocked when the employee goes to the bathroom.... you still blame the robber. And the store. And the employee.

[yukonsam]

04:18 PM on 04/27/2011

I'd be more inclined to argue on Sony's behalf if they weren't so openly contemptuous of their customers. As it stands.... meh, you've got a point.

[99er2049er]

12:38 PM on 04/30/2011

This is our future, this is why we have to have so many damn passwords and codes. Nothing online will be safe, there is always an opportunity for someone to hack in. I would really like to see our country travel to the countries that are doing this, covertly, check those Internet cafe's and catch the thugs or even put some bullets in them. I can only imagine how many bullets it would take to wipe out the thousands of people doing this, but it would be worth it.

[Miguel Antonio Rivera]

02:38 PM on 04/27/2011

I HOPE THEY FIX IT QUICK BECAUSE I PAYED GOOD MONEY FOR EVERYTHING ON MY ACCOUNT. PLAYSTATION IS GOING TO LOSE A LOT OF FANS. PEOPLE ARE GOING TO START BUYING XBOX 360 . THEY BETTER DO SOMETHING FAST

[Gigity]

04:15 PM on 04/27/2011

Hopefully your parents PAID for you to go to a school that would teach you the difference between PAYED and PAID. Here's a hint, one refers to rope.

[apartoflife]

04:39 PM on 04/27/2011

Calm down spelling Nazi.

[99er2049er]

12:39 PM on 04/30/2011

This same thing can happen on the Xbox as well. It's just a matter of a qualified hacker getting through. I am lucky I don't play online games, just against the computer.

[pbcrunch]

02:34 PM on 04/27/2011

I don't understand the obsession over credit card numbers. People, that is the LEAST dangerous information that was stolen. For one thing, Sony stated that the security codes were definitely not stolen and, more importantly, it takes a single phone call to cancel your CC. (Also, most banks have you figured out; if a purchase is made that doesn't conform to a very specific-to-you algorithm, your credit card will be frozen.)

Everything else that was definitely stolen is much more dangerous. Your birth date, address, and name are MORE than enough for your identity to get stolen. Of course, considering vast numbers of people post that information on Facebook or other "social media" for the world to see, they probably don't realize how vulnerable that information can make you.

[Miguel Antonio Rivera]

02:43 PM on 04/27/2011

THEY NEED TO DO SOMETHING FAST

[pbcrunch]

02:50 PM on 04/27/2011

What can be done? The information was already hacked. They can't unhack it...

They can improve security but that won't really help those people whose info was already stolen.

[Andrew Wojtkowski]

04:05 PM on 04/27/2011

Like fix your shift key?

[Gigity]

04:17 PM on 04/27/2011

Really, ok, go ahead and respond with your full name, address, credit card number and expiration date please. Since it obviously can't be used for anything you wont mind doing so. And do you honestly think that someone smart enough to hack into Sony isn't also bright enough to run a program to figure out the 3 digit codes associated with a credit card? Think before you post, please.

[Marisa Stein]

02:29 PM on 04/27/2011

Good, I hope they go under they ruined the Sims 2 with Securom I had to get another computer because of their crap!