The 411 on the hack attack and steps you can take to protect yourself.
Patrick Seybold, Sony Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media released the following:
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.
For those who were looking there’s also an FAQ with some more:
Questions and answers regarding PlayStation®Network/Qriocity Outage
PSN/Qriocity Network Outage FAQs
1. When did the PSN/Qriocity become unavailable?
PSN/Qriocity services have not been available since April 20 (US time) in all regions.
2. Why did the PSN/Qriocity become unavailable?
An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.
3. Why was Sony not prepared for a compromise of its network?
We are currently conducting a thorough investigation of the situation. Since this is an overall security related issue, we cannot comment further at this time.
4. Is the attack by “Anonymous” or another party?
We are currently conducting a thorough investigation of the situation. Since this is an overall security related issue, we cannot comment further at this time.
5. Why is it taking so long to restore network services?
As soon as we learned of this issue, we temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services in order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services. Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.
6. How serious is this compromise? How will Sony prevent this from happening again?
Because there is an on-going investigation we cannot comment further at this time, but we are working to restore and maintain and strengthen the services, including incorporating additional countermeasures to ward against future intrusions.
7. When will service be restored?
We have a clear path to have PlayStation Network and Qriocity systems back online, and expect to restore some services within a week.
We will keep the service down to allow us to conduct a thorough investigation to ensure smooth operation of our network services when they return; we are working hard to resume the services as soon as we can be reasonably assured our security concerns have been addressed.
8. Did SOE experience an attack due to the same reason?
SOE’s services are currently available, but they did experience a service interruption due to an external attack. An investigation is ongoing.
9. Have you had such a long PSN/Qriocity service termination like this one in the past?
No.
10. Does PSN/Qriocity get attacked very often?
We cannot make any comments regarding this matter at this time.
11. I want my money back (subscription fee, content) since the PSN/Qriocity was not available.
While we are still assessing the impact of this incident, we recognize that this may have had financial impact on our loyal customers. We are currently reviewing options and will update you when the service is restored.
12. There seems to be some games that cannot be played even offline?
Some games may require access to PSN for trophy sync, security checks or other network functionality and therefore cannot be played offline.
13. Why are Sony Online Entertainment services available while PSN and Qriocity are still down and you (SCE/Sony) are not able to even tell us when it will come back again?
As our investigation in this matter is ongoing, we cannot comment further on this matter.
14. What personally identifying information do you suspect has been compromised?
Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information provided by PlayStation Network/Qriocity account holders: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birth date, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password, login, and handle/PSN online ID. Other profile data may also have been obtained, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip). If an account holder has authorized a sub-account for a dependent, the same data with respect to that dependent may have been obtained. If an account holder provided credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, it is possible that the credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may also have been obtained.
15. How will I know if my personal information has been compromised?
We have provided notices to consumers at the email addresses associated with their PlayStation Network/Qriocity accounts. You may also visit
www.us.playstation.com/support and
www.qriocity.com for notices regarding this issue. In addition, we have taken steps to disseminate information regarding this issue to media outlets so that consumers are informed. To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant to review your credit card account statements and to monitor your credit reports.
16. What steps have you taken to investigate this compromise?
We have engaged an outside, recognized security firm to investigate this incident and to assist us in our ongoing efforts to protect your personally identifiable information.
17. I got an email from you asking for my PSN/Qriocity sign-in ID and password. Is it really you asking for this 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.
18. What should I do to avoid having my personal information compromised?
For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, postal mail or other 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. Additionally, if you use the same user name or password for your PlayStation Network or Qriocity service account for other
19. Why did Sony wait until now to tell PSN users that their personal information may have been compromised?
The nature of the intrusion required that we undertake an extensive and thorough investigation of the matter, which took considerable effort and time. We needed to make sure that we knew and understood the facts before providing the appropriate notice to PlayStation Network users.
Protecting Yourself:
PlayStation®Network Service Outage
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:
- Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services
- Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened
- 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.
We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.
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, 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.
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 web site 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.
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Other Security Advice not from Sony:
In what is being called
the largest breach of private information ever, the personal data of 70 million PlayStation Network and Qriocity users has been compromised.
Sony confirmed the data breach for the first time in a statement yesterday. Its online gaming and entertainment services have been down since April 20 after what Sony has labeled an “external intrusion.” Here is how you can protect yourself:
Change Passwords
If you're a PlayStation Network customer, the first thing you should do is determine if you've used the same password with other accounts. If so, change it immediately and -- this time -- use different passwords for different accounts. One way to create a password that's easy for you to remember and hard for others to guess is to create a phrase like "I met Susie Jmith in 1992" and use the initials such as ImSJi#92. Be sure to include some upper case letters and at least one symbol and number. Here are some
tips for strong, secure passwords from ConnectSafely.org
Check Credit Reports
This is also a good time to start checking your credit reports. In the U.S. you can get a free annual credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus at
AnnualCreditReport.com.
You can also place a fraud alert at the three credit bureaus:
Experian: 888-397-3742,
Equifax: 800-525-6285 and
TransUnion: 800-680-7289
Be Careful about Email & Phishing
Because the trove of data includes email addresses, be especially careful about any offers or alerts that may come via email. You might, for example, have a higher risk of a phishing attack where someone sends you an official looking email asking you to click on a link so you can log into a site to deal with a supposed security breach or other bogus issue. I wouldn't be surprised to see phishing attacks to appear to look as if they come from Sony.
Check Your Other Accounts
Also, the thief or thieves likely have access to the challenge questions that Sony stored on its servers which increases the risk of someone breaking into your other accounts. Check all of your online accounts frequently to be sure there is no unauthorized activity.
Talk with Your Children and Teens
Many PlayStations are used by children and teens and this breach affects any account associated with the device, including children's accounts. This is a good time to have a discussion with your children about basic security including warning them about phishing attacks and bogus email. Here are ConnectSafely's
tips for smart videogaming.
For more information, visit the Federal Trade Commission's page,
Recover from Identity Theft.
