Sony PlayStation Network Outage: Yes, Personal Data Leaked

Time to come clean: I’m one of the 75 million users affected by the Sony PlayStation Network gaming cloud outage. That’s why I got an automated message in my personal inbox that finally explains what happened with Sony’s network, what data the hackers were privy to, and what steps users should take to protect themselves. The good news: The hackers that brought the Sony PlayStation Network to a crisis point may not have been able to get credit card numbers. The bad news: They got just about everything else.

According to the e-mail, Sony itself shut down the PlayStation Network when it detected the intrusion and has been rebuilding its cloud infrastructure for maximum security. Sony discovered the mysterious hacker obtained the following information from PlayStation Network accounts: name, address (city/state/zip), country, e-mail address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login and handle/PSN online ID.

As for the absolutely critical credit card data, here’s what Sony had to say:

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.

The message goes on to provide the usual warnings in cases like this: change your password, change your credit card information, monitor your credit report. But as before, I find it to be both inexplicable and upsetting that a major technology player (no pun intended) like Sony can’t tell if its most important data storehouse was broken into.

So for now, if you need me, I’ll be waiting for the PlayStation Network to come back up so I can delete all my personal information.

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