Clarifying a Few PSN Points

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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.

For those who were looking there’s also an FAQ with some more frequently asked questions

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

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393 Comments

  • Very scary.

    But people putting any blame on Sony for this matter — really, wow. If only for the sake of lost $$$ you can be assured they are trying their best to solve this issue.

    It’s the whiners, complainers and those that would take advantage of this situation for personal gain — these people make make me sick.

    12

  • People really buying a new system(XBOX) REALLY!!! REALLY!!!! Thats the dumbest thing i ever heard… DUMBEST!!!

  • Boy talk about timing. Not good at all for Sony and us when E3 is around the corner! Wonder if Sony should even save face and make the most of the publicity.

  • I just got the e-mail. Pretty scary stuff. Everything seems fine on my end for now, but I hope you guys get this fixed soon.

  • @Rebe_Led what I meant was… my favorite Platinum Trophy is the Platinum Trophy of Socom 4 U.S. NAVY SEALs

    I going to the bed and sleep good night everyone bye.

    ^_^

  • for once you could have at least mentioned the possibility of something this major before hand…

  • Thanks for the added information and the FAQ answered a lot of questions.

    Best wishes for getting this up before the week is up.

  • Luckily I’ve always used mobile phone topups for my PSN account

    Here in Hong Kong, there’s a link in the mobile phone networks’ mobile web page. Clicking on it will directly charge your phone bill, and provide you with a PSN code to type in to your PS3/PSP.

    I’m guessing, because this service is provided by a third party, that this is much more secure than credit card payments.

    Perhaps Sony should consider extending this service to other territories and regions

  • Well just in case, I contacted my bank and got my card canceled and a new one with new numbers mailed.

    =)

  • The PR situation was really lose-lose for Sony here. Without knowing exactly what the intrusion led to, they could hold out for more information and be hopeful, or alternatively just presume the worst and tell us our credit card info might have been compromised. If the latter occurred and it turned out to be true, then it was handled correctly. If not, then everyone would be furious.

    It was a bit of a craps shoot in deciding what stance to take from the outset. Ultimately, for better or worse, Sony was seemingly tight-lipped, but evidently honest in terms of sharing what they actually knew. Unfortunately, from a consumer interest standpoint, what happened is probably the worst case. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose, and while I’m obviously upset (I probably won’t store my credit card information online on the PSN — or perhaps anywhere — in the future), I forgive Sony.

    Let’s just breathe and recognize that these things do happen, and fortunately the necessary security measures are generally already in place to prevent this leaked information from actually causing anyone much harm. It’s a bit of an annoyance, sure, but again, it’s something we must all be vigilant about constantly.

  • When the dust settles, Sony really need to think about how to win people’s trust back.

    Is it possible to pay for PSN with PayPal? I’m not sure about other regions, but it’s not possible here (Hong Kong)

    If not, Sony need to get alternative payment methods like PayPal implemented, because people might not be comfortable with giving their credit card details directly to Sony in the near future

  • well just heard on the news that the network will be shutdown for another week but its all good at least sony is getting things fixed just gotta wait and be patient…… FF13 replay through lol

  • Still unhappy about my details getting stolen… However, thank you for the FAQ. I Actually feel a little better after reading it.

  • + xxnike629xx wrote “147+ xxnike629xx on April 26th, 2011 at 10:40 pmsaid:Well just in case, I contacted my bank and got my card canceled and a new one with new numbers mailed. ”

    why do people come here and say BLATANT BS . thanks to 9/11 and the patriot act , bank account’s and account numbers have to be done in person AT the bank with ID . you can order a new card with same number , but not a new account number .

  • Nothing is ever safe on the internet. If you want to give out your info you must be prepared for these situations, don’t blame Sony. and REMEMBER PSN is a FREE service, there’s always a way to hack a network system even if it is paid. whatever I’m not moving to 360 I’m not leaving PS3. people are trying to make chaos about a situation they can’t control, so calm down.

  • Yes!! This should at least be warned regardless of whether the data compromise occur or not. Left users in the dark about what happen is just [DELETED] on Sony part!

  • @Bark-n-slice, learn to count, dude. From 4/17 to 4/26 is only 9 days. You are counting 4/17 as day 1 when in reality is day 0. I’ll put it these way; you were born on January 1 1997, you were not 1 year old until January 1 1998, so how old were you on 2006, 9 or 10?

    If you can’t even count I doubt you’re capable of rational thinking. That is also obvious when you make statements like “this is probably the largest security breach in history.” Well, just so you know, one time the Pentagon was hacked by a teen, and that is not the only time they’ve been hacked either.

    Lastly, as soon as Sony stated the PSN outage was due to an external intrusion it was obvious that users information could be jeopardized, however, Sony was right not to tell people about this possibility without investigating first. Imagine a physician telling a patient they found a lump on the patient and it could be a tumor without making any tests first and rule out other possibilities like the lump being simply a cyst.

  • I Will NEVER EVER Trust Sony with my Credit Card Info, Heck, I don’t even Know what happens when you remove the credit card data. But if the hackers in deed get root access, then It Does Not matter Sleeted or Not they Got it.

    Sorry Sony, I won’t be getting anything on-line any more I am not even trusting you to update my Console.
    My Trust with is for ever gone. I’ll stick with disk based games and or just use the PS3 for storing videos and pictures. You Were so Busy In Protecting you Console you forgot to protect the consumers. You fell right into a trap. The hackers caused you to focus on the console and BAM! They got your net work instead. You were Root HAcked!

  • @datastorm98632, do you know you can buy PSN cards pretty much in any store? You don’t need to enter any credit card information in order to purchase from the PS Store.

  • I would be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. Network downtime is one thing; having personal information potentially in nefarious hands is quite another. If one is to follow the recommendations of Sony, there is a lot of legwork that was just created to keep our financial and other data secure. Credit, anti-fraud, and police reports, registered mail, etc. I have enough on my plate without creating what amounts to a new full-time job keeping data safe that was entrusted to Sony in good faith.

    So, is Sony going to absorb the costs of me filing reports, mailing information, and basically playing damage control for my personal data to keep some jerk(s) from ripping me off? I’m going to guess…no, they are not. That “bonus” belongs to each and every one of us…all 77 million customers that trusted YOU to keep this info safe from prying eyes.

    While I’m a PSN+ member, I nearly never play games in multi-player, so the network downtime didn’t affect me personally as much as others. But as a customer who now has his financial and other identifiable data in the hands of would-be crooks, I am frankly outraged. It will take a long time…if ever…for you to regain the confidence I once placed in your as a business.

  • (cont.)

    And for what it’s worth, yes I DO own an XBox 360. And they’ll likely be getting more of my business for the foreseeable future.

    Thanks. Thanks bunches.

  • Sony I’m really disappointed that you waited so long to give us this info. I’m not blaming the fact that that PSN got hacked on you. That lies squarely with those damn hackers. However,you could have gave us this info sooner than this. I’ve been such a supporter of your gaming products from PSX,to PS2,to PSP. Even now with PS3. Everything from countless games(blu-ray and download),the move,the navigation controller,the sharpshooter,and PS+. Hell,I ran out and got a 3D tv to enjoy PS3 games because even with live,I know 360 has nothing on the PS3. Sony you need to do something to restore my faith in you.

  • dont worry about data , he just comes here pretending to know how they did it . BTW hacking root wont always net any results , particularly now since hacking root so old school . I will continue to trust them because they did everything a prudent online entity should do . BTW you should probably NEVER , EVER conduct electronic transactions . since it is apparent that you can’t deal with the risk of choosing to do so … ANYWHERE not just PSN.

  • i just want to know the answer to one simple question that was not directly answered in the FAQs…ARE YOU PLANNING ON PROSECUTING THOSE INVOLVED? i know for a fact its possible to trace them so please do it and send them to federal prison for cyber terrorism or at least get them SOME form of incarceration!

  • While I think this sucks and hope to god nothing serious happens to anyone, at least I’m glad Sony is finally being straight with us and telling us the truth. Hope everything gets fixed soon with some good security so this never happens again. Still I wont be trusting Sony with my CC info anytime soon, at least not this gen, maybe next. If I want something it’ll be purchased with psn cards.

  • I love how hard Sony is not trying to take any blame and not taking any responsibility in this issues.

  • don’t do business with any online merchant if you can’t deal with the risk . PSN only joins a long list (some quite more secure ) hacked sites … liability protection(unauthorized purchases) was made for things such as this .

  • doesnt matter 2 u nike your gone right ??? why you still here ?

  • I think nike is just a troll and couldn’t care less what the hell happens.

  • 6 monthes from nlow , nike and all the rest of the whiners with theier amazing CAPT HINDSIGHT abilities will be doing the samething they were doing before PSN went down …. they just come off as those type of characters .. compleatly ruled by irrational thought , that soon wears off and then they gripe about the next SHOULDA DONE THIS , SHOULDA DONE THAT !!!

  • Sony is becoming the laughing stock of the video game industry because of this!!

  • I like how a bunch of the answers to FAQ questions are just things like “yeah, we’re figuring it out…no comment.”

    Congrats yet again, Sony. I’m half and half with you. One blog post, I see what your going through, and hope you get it worked out…then you counter with another blog post and I honestly hope you fail because this was let happen. Either way, all I ask that if info is compromised, you do your best (you know, like not whats going on with the current situation, but more like what you do when you want to sell something) to make up for it in one way or another.

    Unacceptable.

  • Sony knows this sucks. They know they’ve been hit hard. They’ve answered just about everything we need to know at this point to the best of their ability.

    I hope the hackers who did this understand their point has been made and just leave the data alone. If they go the extra mile and exploit the data for criminal purposes, I hope they get what they deserve.

    We gotta understand that Sony really is probably doing the best they can. As a loyal PS fan and gamer since 1996 I hope they can get things straight and the network fully secure.

    As loyal customers, it’s what we deserve. But I’m still with you Sony, you’ve given me the best gaming years of my life since the ol’ SNES and as long as you get things right this time I’ll stay longer.

  • And as just a tid bit of information for those that don’t know. I keep hearing about how stupid people are for using their CC instead of buying only PSN cards for purchases. The main problem with this is, to sign up for PS+ or Qriocity you have to have a CC on file for the recurring fee service fee(s), regardless of a whether you have/keep a balance in one’s wallet.

  • @Madster. Not entirely true. You only need a credit card for Qriocity’s music service as far as I’ve seen. I have PS+ and it does not require a credit card to be on file.

  • if it was compromised and stuff was indeed stolen does that mean we lost all our purchases?

  • @ #4 If you already thought that the only reason for hacking PSN is to steal data then why not assume this. Why wait for someone to send out an official statement just to tell you something you already know. SONY is working day and night trying to resolve this issue and trying to protect it’s developers against piracy, protecting us as best they can against hacks and identity theft. AND WE GET ALL OF THIS FOR FREE !!!
    Microsoft gets payed to maintain their servers, I don’t know if you people realise this but it costs a lot of money to maintain servers and to protect against hackers. Not only that but there is a lot of people involved that work all day long just to provide you with some entertainment, some of you should show a little more love for SONY.

    Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying go get enganged with someone in the company, I’m jst saying we get a lot of stuff for free and you shouldn’t take it for granted…..

  • By the way, how do you active Portal 2 on PC with the PS3 version?

  • Sony messed up and their communication could have been better. Everyone can agree with that.

    Those of you who are [DELETED] that Sony should have informed us earlier that information may have been obtained are better off not using the internet. It was quite clear to anyone with a basic level of intelligence that this is a possible outcome of a network intrusion. An ordinary, reasonable person would have assumed this.
    I don’t think it would have been sensible for Sony to create panic by telling people that there may have been a data leak until they knew for certain. [DELETED] will immediately assume that this was fact and started running to the nearest bomb shelter.
    Also, even if people had known sooner as to the extent of the leak, there was little the user could do. Accessing your account to change it’s details is not a possibility due to the network being down.
    In terms of CC info, the hackers already have it, so removing it would be pointless. CC info may be usless to the hackers anyway, without the encryption keys.

    Those of you who are now going to sell your consoles- LOL

  • I’ll never give in to the Hackers! I been a fan of Sony since PS2 was out years ago. PS3 is the best consle for ages (Until the Wii 2/ Project Cafe or The PS4 comes out) and I’m not giving up on it after 4 months (Got it at Xmas last year).

    Note to sony: Keep up the good work. Take all the time you need but make sure it can’t be hacked again.

    Thank you. Wiiman1225.

  • The possibility of this was obvious and of you who read the initial announcement should have had the thought run through your head when you read about it. It occurred to me when I read about it. I guess you’re all insanely naive.

    Why would Sony want to stir up hysteria over people losing CC info when they weren’t sure if it had gone that far? They wouldn’t. They want the facts and to tell us how it IS not how it COULD be.

    If you were blindsided by this then you’re dense. Just pay attention to your CC charges. You should do that anyway, someone in a restaurant that takes your CC when you pay can steal the information way easier than this.

  • @171: PS+ will just end if you don’t have a CC info or money in your wallet to auto-renew. Plus, you can turn off auto-renew which kind of shatters your reasoning by itself. This isn’t Microsoft where you have to call them up and spend hours on hold waiting to get your subscription to XBL to stop renewing, because you’re literally unable to remove the CC info from your account while you’re a subscriber. Yay.

  • *yawn* I’m not concerned one bit, keep up the good work Sony and take as long as you need to secure the network. Hopefully it’s all worked out and the ones responsible can be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent. I hope their little war on Video Games was worth 20yrs in prison, lol!

  • These so called “Experts” sound like idiots to me. It shouldn’t have taken them almost a week to notice that users information was compromise.

  • no thanks
    why …
    Why not put the time known about the end of the update!!!!؟؟
    Will there be compensation؟؟؟
    Do you think we are going to buy a ps4 know a lot have moved to xbox !!

  • I’m still in shock. This might be the end of me ever getting online with a game EVER. And might be my last post. Sony you had better make this right or your done.

  • @zombie Cool story bro cant say we’ll miss you when your gone, and sony isnt gonna do crapt except give us psn back

  • For all you people expecting compensation. Im sorry to break it to you but we aren’t gettig crap and I really think Sony is lying to everyone Just so they have an excuse to start charging us for “better online safe service”. So when this happens I expect all you crybabies to complain

  • + Lopez9577 your story is much better. your A TOOL

  • id love to rip you a new one man ;) luckily for you I will hold back

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