…AND I HAVE AN EXCUSE TO USE THIS HEADER AGAIN!
The current Playstation Network outage may have more ramifications than we initially thought. Today, practically the entire internet has reported that hackers may have been able to steal personal information from the PSN’s 60 million or so user base. Now, theft of any personal information is wrong no matter which way you put it, and it’s especially worrying as to what the potential uses are in store for the stolen information. Patrick Seybold, Senior Director of Communications, has this to say, which you can check out after the jump:
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.
For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well.
Among the possible information stolen:
- Name
- Address (city, state, zip)
- Country
- Email address
- Birthdate
- PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login and handle/PSN online ID.
PSN users are also encouraged to change their passwords once the service comes back online and they’re able to log back in. On top of that, Sony is employing the services of a “recognized security firm†to investigate the current breach. Reports have it that the Playstation Network will be up and running again in a week or so, with strengthened security and network infrastructure. As they always say, we’ll have more on this story as it develops.
Sources: [GeekTyrant, Kotaku, GamesRadar, Joystiq]
