With millions of gamers affected with Sony PlayStation outage, Sony says it might take another week to bring back its networks. However, this isn’t the bigger issue at the moment. What’s alarming for the millions of PlayStation users is that amidst the rumors that admin accounts were breached in the attack on Sony, the company has warned that your personal data might be in the hands of hackers already as Sony finally accepts a major breach in its network.
According to a letter written to its users, Sony says, “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, Sony says it cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution Sony advises that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.
For your security, users are encouraged 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, Sony says it 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, it is strongly recommended 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,” Sony says.
Infosec India 