Sony has provided yet another update on the recent PlayStation Network downtime. This time, it’s really bad news for anyone who uses the service. Between April 17 and April 19, 2011, Sony discovered that certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion on network.
Needless to say, this is a serious breach on the PSN. SCEA and SCEE have sent out emails to all users informing them of the breach, but if you haven’t received the email, we’ve summarized the information below.
In response to this intrusion, Sony have:
- Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;
- Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and
- 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.
The intrusion means that the unauthrized person has has obtained the following information that you provided:
- name
- address (city, state/province, zip or postal code)
- country
- email address
- birthdate
- PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login
- 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 that credit card data was taken at this time, Sony cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, to be on the safe side Sony are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.
For your security, Sony is encouraging 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, tax identification or similar 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, you are strongly recommend to 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, you should also change them, as well.
To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, Sony encourage you to remain vigilant to review your account statements and to monitor your credit or similar types of reports.
Sony also said:
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 www.eu.playstation.com/psnoutage should you have any additional questions.