Current PSN outage: Don't abuse or we lose this thread.

[Joey D]

I'm pretty annoyed with Sony's lack of security precautions when handling my personal information, and especially my credit card information. I have bought stuff over the internet for years and never had my credit card number compromised. But now there is a huge potential it might be because Sony couldn't bother to protect the consumer adequately.

I think I'll be cancelling my PSN account once this all gets sorted out. It's not worth it to leave my personal information in the hands of a company that has no idea how to be secure.

 

[The Bman]

If you watched CNN, this subject was being talked about.

I am just so PO'd that this is happening. There is going to be alot of defection to the 360 and Wii.

I am getting sick of hackers. Remember a while ago that somewhere (I don't remember), hackers shut down the power and the area was in the dark? And hackers think this is freedom? Yeah right.

Back on topic, PSN will have to be back up soon, or Microsoft and Nintendo will take advantage, and a big one too.

 

[Terronium-12]

As an aside, what are you people more worried about... your credit card information being stolen, or that your Bob's could lose any unclaimed prizes from online racing? Personally, I'm more worried about my Bobs (I think I had over $1 million credits unclaimed!)

For the love of all that's holy, please tell me you're joking.

 

[Lain]

Luckily I removed my debit card info from my PSN account a month or two back, so I should be fine. 👍

 

[C_Raccoon23]

As an aside, what are you people more worried about... your credit card information being stolen, or that your Bob's could lose any unclaimed prizes from online racing? Personally, I'm more worried about my Bobs (I think I had over $1 million credits unclaimed!)

Really? Fake money that can be easily earned with literally zero effort is more important?

 

[Starfirebird]

Dumb Question.

If i've never used a Credit/Debit card for PSN then i should be ok right?

Another question.When you first create a account for PSN,do you need to enter Credit/Debit card info?

It's been so long since i became a PSN member i can't remember the details.

 

[icelt]

Keeps getting worse for Sony.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal Demands Answers From Sony in Wake of PSN Breach
http://www.gamespy.com/articles/116/1164280p1.html

By Mike Sharkey | Apr 26, 2011
www.gamespy.com

Senator pushes SCEA CEO Jack Tretton to get on the ball, support PSN users.

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal believes PlayStation Network's millions of customers deserve better from Sony in the wake of the online network's massive security breach, and the democrat from Connecticut has contacted SCEA President Jack Tretton demanding answers.

In a statement issued today, Sony announced that the personal information of PSN and Qriocity users was compromised by an illegal intrusion on its network sometime between April 17 and 19. Sony shut down PSN to fully investigate the attack and its ramifications in the evening of April 20, and the service has been offline ever since. However, it wasn't until today that Sony notified users their personal information was compromised.

Shortly after Sony's announcement, Blumenthal, the first-term Senator and former Attorney General in Connecticut, issued a statement declaring Sony should have notified PSN customers immediately and must now do more to help those at risk.

"I am concerned that PlayStation Network users' personal and financial information may have been inappropriately accessed by a third party," Blumenthal wrote in a letter to Tretton. "Compounding this concern is the troubling lack of notification from Sony about the nature of the data breach. Although the breach occurred nearly a week ago, Sony has not notified customers of the intrusion, or provided information that is vital to allowing individuals to protect themselves from identity theft, such as informing users whether their personal or financial information may have been compromised. Nor has Sony specified how it intends to protect these consumers."

"PlayStation Network users deserve more complete information on the data breach, as well as the assurance that their personal and financial information will be securely maintained. I appreciate your prompt response on this important issue."

 

[Joey D]

Senator Blumenthal does have a pretty good point. Sony should have said something earlier. While I firmly believe they shouldn't have let this happened in the first place, it did happen and they really should have warned us sooner so we could have started taking precautions.

 

[Tower Turn 13]

According to Sony's official info that senator and article are off-base and don't have the correct information. That is, if you believe Sony. They state that they didn't know the risk to users until shortly before they informed users of said risk, meaning it took an outside firm's investigation to reveal that info to them; they didn't actually know when it first happened. They just acted and shut down the server. I also understand they're pursuing a criminal action and between the courts and whatever other law enforcement involved it's probably better to avoid "further comment" aside from what we need to know about our own information and security (which they did). Just my opinion. Then again Sony might be giving us a line.

 

[ragnar666]

If there is any evidence what so ever they had prior knowledge of this security breach and it affecting our private details ESPECIALLY CC details etc there should be a class action lawsuit against sony.

To not give us the news that our details were comprimsed until a WEEK after the compromise is a gross negligence that could cost people there IDENTITIES

A week is a long time in the online world, plently of time for people to apply for credit cards and get approval, completly steal a persons entire ID, especially with all the details at their disposal.

All of this while the end user had no idea without knowing there is no way to counter by cancelling cards, changing passwords etc.

Not only that but many people in my shoes are going to have to PAY for credit reporting companies to keep an eye on our history to check no one is trying to do anything with our details like apply for credit cards and loans etc just to be safe that our information isn't being used by these hackers.

Im shocked that this isn't getting more widespread news coverage, its a theft that could have huge impacts on the general populace.

 

[icelt]

Senator Blumenthal does have a pretty good point. Sony should have said something earlier. While I firmly believe they shouldn't have let this happened in the first place, it did happen and they really should have warned us sooner so we could have started taking precautions.

Completely agreed. Sony is getting dangerously close to turning this into a full on cluster 🤬 I'm afraid.

 

[Joey D]

Completely agreed. Sony is getting dangerously close to turning this into a full on cluster 🤬 I'm afraid.

They are getting dangerously close to a class action lawsuit. Not that we would see any of the money by the time it filtered through all the lawyers and what not.

 

[Wiegert]

Dumb Question.

If i've never used a Credit/Debit card for PSN then i should be ok right?

Another question.When you first create a account for PSN,do you need to enter Credit/Debit card info?

It's been so long since i became a PSN member i can't remember the details.

If you've never used your Credit/Debit card to make a cash transaction on PSN then you should be fine. You don't need to enter your card details when you create your PSN account either.

 

[Terronium-12]

This is going to 🤬 Sony up good.

 

[Rod_Sauzer]

Let's not panic, people.

Just pay a little closer attention on your credit card statements to ensure all charges are legit. I wouldn't start worrying unless they announce they could have stolen SSN's.

4-5 years ago someone started charging stuff on my credit card; no idea how they got the information. Nevertheless, my credit card company identified this within a day or so of the charges (I had no idea), and shut down the card. They sent me a new card w/ a new number, etc. and I didn't have to pay any of the fraudulent charges. An inconvenience, yes, but not that big of a deal.

 

[Wiegert]

4-5 years ago someone started charging stuff on my credit card; no idea how they got the information. Nevertheless, my credit card company identified this within a day or so of the charges (I had no idea), and shut down the card. They sent me a new card w/ a new number, etc. and I didn't have to pay any of the fraudulent charges. An inconvenience, yes, but not that big of a deal.

The same thing happened to me a couple of years ago. It had me worried when I found out someone was using my card details, but thankfully my bank dealt with the matter almost immediately and I was given a new card soon after.

 

[Northstar]

This is going to 🤬 Sony up good.

That it is, right now paying for XBL isn't looking so bad.

I wouldn't start worrying unless they announce they could have stolen SSN's.

I won't go into how to do it for obvious reasons, but you can get someones SSN with their name, DoB, address and a CC. My mom had to go through it a few years back when we were getting our passports and she lost her birth certificate.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Looks like nobody posted this, so I will. And just like I thought, they didn't know the extent of the breach until yesterday. So all those complaining about their lack of customer response should take note...

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/26/clarifying-a-few-psn-points/

I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify a point and answer one of the most frequently asked questions today.

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.

 

[Sharky.]

They are getting dangerously close to a class action lawsuit. Not that we would see any of the money by the time it filtered through all the lawyers and what not.

I suspect Sony will also be filing a(nother) lawsuit of their own, because 1) stealing personal information is illegal and 2) last I checked, hacking a PS3 with debug CFW and gaining access to Sony's dev branch of PSN - ie unauthorised access - isn't legal either. Sure, Sony's still screwed either way, but a company as big as Sony doesn't take it lying down - and this just gives them more ammunition in their fight against the PS3 jailbreak.

 

[icelt]

Looks like nobody posted this, so I will. And just like I thought, they didn't know the extent of the breach until yesterday. So all those complaining about their lack of customer response should take note...

I appreciate what you're saying, however it is ever so much looking likely that the natural follow up questions will be reviewed by a court of law.

1st off, they better be telling the truth. 2nd, assuming that they are, do they have a reasonably logical explanation for "why" it took their "experts" so long to determine the scope of the breach? 3rd, do the specifics of their security design meet the industry standards and "best practices" and if not why didn't they? 4th, were they ever notified or warned that their current network/security design had evident flaws or holes? Etc.

If it turns out the breach really is as bad as they are leading us to believe, Sony has ALOT to explain.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Seeing as none of us work for them, we don't know. But I'm sure they have an explanation for everything and more thorough details that the public doesn't know yet. All we can do is sit and wait patiently.

 

[Terronium-12]

I suspect Sony will also be filing a(nother) lawsuit of their own, because 1) stealing personal information is illegal and 2) last I checked, hacking a PS3 with debug CFW and gaining access to Sony's dev branch of PSN - ie unauthorised access - isn't legal either. Sure, Sony's still screwed either way, but a company as big as Sony doesn't take it lying down - and this just gives them more ammunition in their fight against the PS3 jailbreak.

How credible will that be in court though? It took all of this for them to actually go about implementing a better mainframe instead of taking the proper precautions the first time it happened, let alone the second. Whatever they do customers are jumping ship regardless; when money is involved, especially when that money (is possibly) being stolen from you...no one wants to hear your side of the story...they just want your head on a stick.

 

[Sharky.]

Illegal activities are still illegal regardless of how easy said activity was. If you're walking down the street and someone's front door is open you don't stroll in and help yourself to the stuff inside do you? Theft is theft.

I feel the point you made about their security (or lack thereof) around PSN is more applicable to the inevitable consumer v Sony lawsuits and not so much to Sony v hackers.

 

[Stunt Drifter]

Seeing as none of us work for them, we don't know. But I'm sure they have an explanation for everything and more thorough details that the public doesn't know yet. All we can do is sit and wait patiently.

👍

Further posts should take note from this.

 

[Tower Turn 13]

I used to be a reporter and I think with things like this sometimes, especially in the beginning, people are tight-lipped. However if this is a true criminal case all the info you guys want will come out. Especially if Governor Whoever keeps being angry.

 

[Terronium-12]

Illegal activities are still illegal regardless of how easy said activity was. If you're walking down the street and someone's front door is open you don't stroll in and help yourself to the stuff inside do you? Theft is theft.

I feel the point you made about their security (or lack thereof) around PSN is more applicable to the inevitable consumer v Sony lawsuits and not so much to Sony v hackers.

Oh, no...I wasn't arguing the legality issues. I was more or less arguing that the underlying issues and what's overlapping now is easily going to overshadow that.

 

[icelt]

How credible will that be in court though? It took all of this for them to actually go about implementing a better mainframe instead of taking the proper precautions the first time it happened, let alone the second. Whatever they do customers are jumping ship regardless; when money is involved, especially when that money (is possibly) being stolen from you...no one wants to hear your side of the story...they just want your head on a stick.

Yep, it's not a question of "if" people are gonna give up on the PSN but rather a question of how many and how quickly they'll leave. Obviously as Sony only experiences direct revenue from PSN via the few PS+ subscribers, the subscription loss may not be that great. However there is also the derived revenue from the game and video sales that occur through the PSN.

If that derived revenue stream takes a big enough hit, I just can't see how Sony won't be forced to take the "pay to play" route. Especially coupling those financial consequences with those that may result from a lawsuit(s) and those associated with investing in new/upgraded network infrastructure and software. Lastly there is the always difficult to measure variable of "brand loyalty," but undoubtedly that one will suffer as a result of this situation as well.

In combination and acknowledging the proven $ stream MS has been able to create with Live, IMHO, I forsee a P2P PSN within the next year.

 

[marchi]

How credible will that be in court though? It took all of this for them to actually go about implementing a better mainframe instead of taking the proper precautions the first time it happened, let alone the second. Whatever they do customers are jumping ship regardless; when money is involved, especially when that money (is possibly) being stolen from you...no one wants to hear your side of the story...they just want your head on a stick.

Yeah... I can guarantee that 75% of sony customer base have little knowledge or particularly care about whats going on... To most of them, they can't log on to the PSN... I hav DC info on my PSN account, but i'm not concerned. regardless any money I have is in an account that cannot be touched from my debit card.

 

[im playing gt5]

anyoen else seriously considering changing their card numbers and passwords because of this incident?

 

[icelt]

Illegal activities are still illegal regardless of how easy said activity was. If you're walking down the street and someone's front door is open you don't stroll in and help yourself to the stuff inside do you? Theft is theft.

While that is perfectly true, there is also an assumed responsibility (ie liability) on Sony's part to ensure adequate protection of the valuable customer data that they store.

So for a different simple example, lets say I am a bank that stores the gold of my customers. Now if someone breaks in and steals some of that gold, to be true, that crime was not only committed against the customer but also me the bank. However if during the investigation it is discovered that my normal operating procedure was to only secure the gold vault with a $2 push button door knob lock, then I will be found partially liable for the losses as I failed to diligently protect the assets of my customers.