Sony Punishes 77M Gamers After PlayStation Network Gets Hacked (2011)

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WTF Sony? After gamers spent thousands of dollars on equipment, games and subscriptions to your Sony PlayStation products each, you’d think you’d put some of that money into your network security and not just into your pocket. Apparently not.

Last week, someone was able to steal the Sony PlayStation Network‘s database containing personal information from 77 million PlayStation 3 gamers around the world. The PlayStation Network and Qriocity services has been down for “maintenance” since the attack.

The stolen Sony database included the users real names, birthdates, physical and email addresses associated with their PlayStation Network and Qriocity accounts and even passwords for all 77M users. Whether or not credit card data was also obtained by the hacker(s) is still unknown… or at least Sony isn’t saying.

Sony has hired a security company to conduct an investigation into what exactly happened and are taking steps to enhance security and strengthen the PlayStation Network infrastructure. However, Sony Computer Entertainment‘s user response to this security breach (aka hack) has been terrible. Except for a unapologetic blog post meant to inform the press (not their 77M PlayStation Network users), they’ve been basically radio silent since the incident. WTF – They waited a FULL week after the hack to tell users! The only official comment to the 77M PlayStation Network users from Sony was an email they sent last night. We’ve posted the email below. The word “sorry” does not appear once in the statement. Additionally, there’s no offer to make this wrong right with Sony’s user base. We read the email expecting to see an offers from Sony for free downloads or extended subscriptions. Nope. Let the lawsuits begin.

If anything, Sony is making the situation worse. What do you think? Anyone else ready to switch to Xbox?

Valued PlayStation(R)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 rebuilding 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.

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 website 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