In the wake of PSN being offline for the past few days Sony has finally stepped up and admitted that PlayStation Network has been hacked. Some time between the 17th and 19th of April an intruder hacked their way into PlayStation’s Network and Qriocity and obtained massive amounts of user data. Sony issued a statement in which it reported any and all of the following data may have been stolen:
Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we 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. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. 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.
It’s difficult to project the fallout from a hack of this magnitude, but needless to say Sony’s lengthy invastigation into the hack, before issuing this information to the public, may have been a major mistake in terms of damage control. By failing to inform PSN users sooner they have given their hacker a week head-start with all of their users personal details.
Pop Culture Monster strongly recommends changing your PSN security details immediately if you are a Sony gamer. It may also be prudent to change any passwords on websites or email accounts that use the same email and password combination as your PSN account. Be vigilant in the coming months with regard to any credit card statements you are issued and keep an eye out for unusual activity on your cards. Finally watch out for any emails purporting to be from Sony or PlayStation as we may be in for a wave of scam emails hitting PlayStation users.
Unfortunately now that this story has broken, we only hope this doesn’t start a wave of copycats. News of so successful an attack will hopefully lead to improved gaming security measures protecting PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. In the meantime stay vigilant and get changing those passwords.
