Hackers stole personal data from PlayStation Network

[NWOWolfpack]

Sony has admitted that hackers have stolen the personal information of customers who use the company's online PlayStation Network.

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In a post to the official PlayStation blog Tuesday afternoon, Sony of America's director of communications said that "an illegal intrusion" in their system has caused a "compromise of personal information." While they don't believe credit card information was taken, they say that hackers may have taken names, addresses, email addresses, birthdates and passwords among other things.

There are some 77 million user accounts with the PlayStation Network and Qriocity service, which allow gamers to play games online together as well as purchase and play movies and music.

As we previously reported, the PlayStation Network abruptly went offline last Wednesday, April 20. On Tuesday gamers grew increasingly irate as news of the data theft spread, wondering why it had taken Sony six days to reveal that personal information had been taken. Sony responded Tuesday evening by issuing a follow-up statement insisting that they did not know that personal data had been taken until Monday.

Sony said it does not believe credit card data was stolen, but the company did issue this warning: "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."

A long pause
The Tuesday afternoon revelation is the most Sony had disclosed since the unexpected PlayStation Network outage occurred six days ago. In a letter Sony issued to its customers, the company said it has "engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation," and further explains:

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.

And after much speculation from anxious gamers, Sony is now explaining to customers that the following happened:

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:

1. Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;
2. Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and
3. Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

Sony confirmed Tuesday that there are 77 million PlayStation Network user accounts worldwide but has not said how many individuals that represents. Some gamers have told us they have multiple accounts on the network. Still, tens of millions of people are sure to have been affected.

"This is a huge data breach," Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter told Reuters. "The bigger issue with Sony is how will the hacker use the info that has been illegally obtained?"

Alan Paller, research director of the SANS Institute, told Reuters this was the largest-ever breach of its type. He said he suspected the hackers entered the network by taking over the PC of a system administrator, who had rights to access sensitive information about Sony's customers. They likely did that by sending the administrator an email message that contained a piece of malicious software that got downloaded onto his or her PC.　

Sony told Reuters that it could restore some of the network's services within a week, but was unable to comment on whether it was working with law enforcement or other parties in its investigation.

Angry gamers
Not surprisingly, many PlayStation 3 owners are furious at the news and the long wait for the above announcement.

"You waited a WEEK to tell us our personal information was compromised? That should have been said last Thursday," wrote one angry gamer in a comment under the PlayStation blog post.

Another agreed: "This update is about 6 days LATE. I think it is time to move to the other network, no regard for customers here."

And they weren't the only ones outraged. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to Sony of America CEO Jack Tretton demanding answers about the company’s failure to notify millions of customers about the data breach in a timely manner.

"When a data breach occurs, it is essential that customers be immediately notified about whether and to what extent their personal and financial information has been compromised," he wrote, calling for Sony to provide PlayStation Network users with financial data security services free of charge and arguing that affected customers should be provided with "sufficient insurance to protect them from the possible financial consequences of identity theft."

In response to the growing criticism, Sony issued a follow-up statment on Tuesday evening clarifying that they did not know that personal data had been taken until Monday:

There's a difference in timing between when we identified there was an intrusion and when we learned of consumers' data being compromised. We learned there was an intrusion April 19th and subsequently shut the services down. We then brought in outside experts to help us learn how the intrusion occurred and to conduct an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the incident. It was necessary to conduct several days of forensic analysis, and it took our experts until yesterday to understand the scope of the breach. We then shared that information with our consumers and announced it publicly this afternoon.

Certainly Sony isn't the only company to be hit recently by hackers bent on taking personal information.

The data theft is reminiscent of the recent hacking-related thefts of email addresses, passwords and other personal information from the Texas-based marketing firm Epsilon Data Management as well as Gawker Media. In the case of Epsilon, more than 250 million worldwide consumers were potentially affected.

But the PlayStation Network hack is potentially more critical considering that this initial information from Sony suggests that even more personal information was possibly pilfered. (For more on that, see Wilson Rothman's related story here.)

What now?
So you own a PS3 and have a PlayStation Network account. What should you do next?

To start with, if you used your PlayStation Network password on any other accounts, it's time to change it ASAP. And though Sony doesn't think credit card data has been stolen, you should keep a very close eye on the credit card account you associated with the Sony network.

Sony has also provided the contact information for the three major U.S. credit bureaus in its blog post about the incident and points out that, "At no charge, U.S. residents can have these credit bureaus place a 'fraud alert' on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name."

Sony is also warning customers to be cautious of potentially sketchy contact:

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.

[keithlewis]

Sony Customer Notification US States (excluding Puerto Rico and Massachusetts)

Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer:

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:

1. Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;
2. Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and
3. Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.

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. To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports. We are providing the following information for those who wish to consider it:

* U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.
* We have also provided names and contact information for the three major U.S. credit bureaus below. At no charge, U.S. residents can have these credit bureaus place a “fraud alert” on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact any one of the agencies listed below.

Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013 Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241 TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
* You may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further information about how to protect yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may also have advice on preventing identity theft, and you should report instances of known or suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General, and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone (877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov. For Maryland residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone: (888) 743-0023; or www.oag.state.md.us.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority. Please contact us at 1-800-345-7669 should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment

[keithlewis]

Sony: "We know you are upset" that PlayStation Network is still down

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