Attn: PS3 / PSP users - PSN got hacked

[tenshi_a]

This is serious, so I think this deserves its own thread so people are notified.

PSN's been hacked and all personal information and possibly credit cards have been stolen.

Here is the data that Sony is sure has been compromised if you have a PlayStation Network Account:

* Your name
* Your address (city, state, and zip)
* Country
* E-mail address
* Birthday
* PSN password and login name

"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," Sony announced. While the company claims that there is "no evidence" that credit card information has been compromised, it won't rule out the possibility.

Source: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2...een-stolen.ars

If you use the same password on PSN as other services or whatever online, I suggest you change that password. Also, keep an eye on your credit card account and on the lookout for evidence of identity theft.

[Gibb]

It's definitely very scary. I've checked my bank statements and so far I haven't seen anything suspicious (well, any more suspicious than my normal bizarre spending habits). Fortunately I've used a unique password on the PSN, so I have no risk of other accounts being compromised. I find it hard to believe actual passwords could be extracted, as they should be hashed with security encryption. If the hacker just got a bunch of hash-tags for a password field, then that's not nearly as worrisome as the article makes it sound.

Fortunately I'm enrolled in an identity theft program through my company, so if worst case scenario hits me, I should be ok... I think.

[ryushe]

****, I don't even remember my PSN password...

[ryushe]

I really don't get why people are mad at Sony for this...

[Woooh]

Originally Posted by ryushe

I really don't get why people are mad at Sony for this...

They had a flaw in their security.

Originally Posted by tenshi_a

And I am also wondering, what with this affecting Sony and the networks attached to it like Lovefilm and Netflix... whether it's just the virus that got Skynet, starting up a week late.

I'm pretty sure those run through PSN on the ps3 which is why they are also affected.

[Vaikyuko]

I remember my PSN password...thankfully, while it was a derivative of one of my others, it was different enough that those should be fine.

The money is what I'm most concerned with...

[Woooh]

Hey Gibb, think you could move the discussion over in the daily thoughts thread to here? Just so the conversation isn't all separated all over the place.

EDIT: Thanks.

[Vaikyuko]

Originally Posted by ryushe

I really don't get why people are mad at Sony for this...

...you've got to be kidding, right?

Your personal information and potentially credit card information (e.g., money) is available to people who hacked the Sony servers which were supposed to be secure precisely for this reason.

How could someone not be pissed off, especially since Sony decided not to tell us until almost a week later?

[tenshi_a]

Originally Posted by Gibb

I find it hard to believe actual passwords could be extracted, as they should be hashed with security encryption. If the hacker just got a bunch of hash-tags for a password field, then that's not nearly as worrisome as the article makes it sound.

I know, right? It's the absolute basics - you one-way encrypt passwords. You seed encryption so hackers won't be able to crack the encryption by just having a look at the data. You compare hashes, not passwords. That way it should be impossible for hackers who've just got the data to know what people's passwords are.

If they haven't been doing that, what kind of yahoos are these?

I'd expect hackers who've gotten onto the servers to be able to crack credit card numbers before they know everyone's passwords!

I'm furious!

[ryushe]

From the Daily VG thread:

Originally Posted by Woooh

They had a flaw in their security.

Originally Posted by Vaikyuko

...you've got to be kidding, right?

Your personal information and potentially credit card information (e.g., money) is available to people who hacked the Sony servers which were supposed to be secure precisely for this reason.

How could someone not be pissed off, especially since Sony decided not to tell us until almost a week later?

Yeah, but **** happens. I can't in good conscious fault them for a few out there that wanna be losers and feel the need to hack and steal instead of get jobs and be decent like the rest of us.

I don't know, people that do such things just infuriate me a lot more than what Sony did, or in this case, didn't do.

Edit:
How do I go about changing my PSN password? Online or through the PS3?

[Gibb]

Originally Posted by ryushe

From the Daily VG thread:


Yeah, but **** happens. I can't in good conscious fault them for a few out there that wanna be loser and feel the need to hack and steal instead of get jobs and be decent like the rest of us.

I don't know, people that do such things just infuriate me a lot more than what Sony did, or in this case, didn't do.

I agree with ryushe, partially. I feel they should have informed us much sooner than they did, but at the same time no fortress is impenetrable. I wouldn't doubt that Microsoft has had a few team meetings to discuss their security on XBL to make sure this doesn't happen to them as well.

Seeing all the comments on the articles of people leaving Sony for good are laughable. There are even a couple "You'll hear from my lawyer" comments for good measure, and I highly doubt those commenters have a lawyer unless they're referring to the Phoenix Wright currently lodged in their DS.

Anyway, best thing to do now is to make sure your passwords are varied between different accounts, and that you continue to check your bank statements for any fraudulent activity.

[Vaikyuko]

Originally Posted by ryushe

Yeah, but **** happens. I can't in good conscious fault them for a few out there that wanna be loser and feel the need to hack and steal instead of get jobs and be decent like the rest of us.

I don't know, people that do such things just infuriate me a lot more than what Sony did, or in this case, didn't do.

Edit:
How do I go about changing my PSN password? Online or through the PS3?

**** happens, sure, but Sony really dropped the ball with how much info was taken and the sheer level of compromise we've got here. It's probably not even about the money, and identity theft (and subsequent money loss from that) is far more dangerous. That and they decided to wait almost a week to tell people this instead of doing it immediately.

As for pass change: you can't change your PSN password until the system is back up.

[Gibb]

I'm curious what will happen to current balances on the PSN. I don't think I have much if any money attached to my US account, but my Japan account has over 9000 yen attached to it (yes I can see the funny there). I spent about $120 adding 10000 yen to my account, so I hope it's not lost or compromised at all. It would be hard to go through Japanese tech support to get it resolved.

[tenshi_a]

Originally Posted by ryushe

Yeah, but **** happens. I can't in good conscious fault them for a few out there that wanna be loser and feel the need to hack and steal instead of get jobs and be decent like the rest of us.

I don't know, people that do such things just infuriate me a lot more than what Sony did, or in this case, didn't do.

Edit:
How do I go about changing my PSN password? Online or through the PS3?

Well, it's not great that PSN got hacked, it's kind of bad that you can't download the games you own, sort of inconvenient that the service is absent, but that's not important.

What makes me angry is that it sounds like they have not done basic things to their data to ensure that if someone did break into the data, they couldn't pick it up and run with it. They should have encryption in there so the credit cards numbers are hard to get to, and the passwords they have are useless.

But no. Sony know the passwords are out there intact. So all the poor unfortunate people who've used the same passwords for PSN and multiple internet accounts... these hackers - who may well be some country's mafia or big organised crime - have millions of email addresses and passwords which they can try on different websites - webmail, paypal, internet banking, other payment providers, etc.

These hackers haven't struck gold as in "well, it's raw and we'll have to do some mining to get anything good out of this", they've struck gold as in a vault full of neatly stacked gold bars to cart off.

Whatever your password was, those thieves have it. Whatever shares that password, go and change it immediately!

[Holy Knight]

While I'm not angry at Sony, they really dropped the ball on security since I hear it was on something really basic.

Rebug let hackers access PSN's developer network, and this network had unconditional access to everyone else's account info. The flaw here is that Sony somehow trusted their own users not to steal info.

Or something to that effect. This stuff isn't my expertise. The gist of it is simply that it was a glaring fault in Sony's security that allowed this to happen in the first place.

As for me, I'm doing the rounds changing my passwords everywhere. Just in case.