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[Delphine]

It's common for card thieves to make small charges to see if it will go through, then make the larger purchases later -- exactly what happen to Gibbon. Everyone affected by this should just go ahead and cancel their cards.

[Protodude]

Sad fact is, my major annoyance about this whole thing has been my denial of Netflix sevices. I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF WATCHING ATTENBOROUGH DOCUMENTARIES ;_;

Netflix works fine for me. If you just click the icon and attempt to sign in to the PSN (twice) it'll go through, for me anyway, even though it says you have to be signed in to use it. I've been using it everyday since the PSN has been down.

[CM August]

I actually had my credit card info stolen a couple years back (right before I came to Japan) and at first there was only a single $10 transaction for Blockbuster online or something. I called the card company and they thought it was a fluke (so did I), so the charge was reversed. Two months later is when the big transactions showed up.

How did that end for you?

[Green Gibbon!]

There was close to a $1000 in computer equipment charged to the card, but I wasn't held responsible for any of it. Of course I had the card cancelled.

For months after though (even after I came to Japan) I kept getting notices of failed charges, meaning people were still trying to use the number.

[Arcade]

Do not trust the Internet, it bites!

Wait, it wasn't the Internet this time, Ok how about... "You are never safe enough"?

[gr4yJ4Y]

Sony is saying that they encrypted all the credit card info in a seperate table from personal data in its newest update today.

Q: Was my personal data encrypted?
A: All of the data was protected, and access was restricted both physically and through the perimeter and security of the network. The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken. The personal data table, which is a separate data set, was not encrypted, but was, of course, behind a very sophisticated security system that was breached in a malicious attack.

Q: Was my credit card data taken?
A: While all credit card information stored in our systems is encrypted and 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. Keep in mind, however that your credit card security code (sometimes called a CVC or CSC number) has not been obtained because we never requested it from anyone who has joined the PlayStation Network or Qriocity, and is therefore not stored anywhere in our system.

I'm still off to cancel my card right now...

[Farmer]

Keep in mind, however that your credit card security code (sometimes called a CVC or CSC number) has not been obtained because we never requested it from anyone who has joined the PlayStation Network or Qriocity, and is therefore not stored anywhere in our system.

In that case, wouldn't the details be useless to the hackers? I can't think of any transaction I've carried out which hasn't required either the security code or, in the real world, a PIN number.

[Arcade]

Well, as I said, you are never safe enough, plus they can cross the data stolen from PSN with other sources, and get the data they need if the user had been careless enough.

[Blount]

Keep in mind, however that your credit card security code (sometimes called a CVC or CSC number) has not been obtained because we never requested it from anyone who has joined the PlayStation Network or Qriocity, and is therefore not stored anywhere in our system. UPDATE: While we do ask for CCV codes, we do not store them in our database.

WELP.

"The hackers that hacked PSN are selling off the DB," Keven Stevens, a security analyst with Trend Micro, wrote on Twitter. "They reportedly have 2.2 million credit cards with CVVs." With that ominous notice, the word went out that PSN customers who provided their credit card details to Sony are indeed facing a very real risk of fraud. He said the hackers are claiming the database includes full names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, passwords, dates of birth, credit card numbers, CVV2s ["card verification values," the three-digit security code used to confirm the validity of the card in transactions where the card isn't present] and expiration dates - in other words, pretty much everything.

Now there's a clusterfuck if I've ever seen one. Isn't it common practice to create single-use virtual cards with small amounts of money in them? It adds an extra step to every purchase, but at least it's a hell of a lot safer.

[Crisis]

Selling off the credit card data to Sony (and then the highest bidder after being turned down) sounds like the incredibly juvenile idea of an amateur hacker. It's not very consistent with the way that this incident has unfolded so far, so there's a pretty good chance it's a hoax, either for money or for luls. Alternatively, it may be that the original hackers were themselves hacked. The hacking community is a bit like that.

Sony are obviously desperate to get a clear report of the damage so they can spin it in the least threatening way possible. So the credit card situation is still very much in the air.

[Green Gibbon!]

Yeah, I take that with a grain of salt. Honestly, cancelling your credit card just because you used it on PSN is probably a bit overkill at the moment. I'm not cancelling mine, and I've been down that road before.

Probably a good idea to change your passwords, though, if you use the same ones.


This is really a bigger problem for Sony than anyone else. For this whole console generation they've come off as completely out of touch with the market, like they don't really know what's going on, struggling to follow both Microsoft and Nintendo, but still acting like they're king of the hill. There's almost been a sense of arrogance even as they've stumbled along and this disaster is really the final case-closing testament to their inability to handle their own shit or communicate with the people who actually play games. In addition to the fact that it's going to cost them billions of dollars right off the bat, they're going to carry the stigma for years to come, losing millions more.

A lot of people need to be replaced before the PS4 rolls around if it's going to stand a chance. Heads need to roll.

[CM August]

Every mainstream news article I've come across focuses on Sony bringing out the handkerchief and pointing the finger at those dastardly hackers, but not a word was said about Sony's massive privacy violations, described for instance in the article Ritz linked to. What's up with that?

[Team Mecha]

& I just bought a headset right before all of this -_- *headdesk*

[FlashTHD]

Every mainstream news article I've come across focuses on Sony bringing out the handkerchief and pointing the finger at those dastardly hackers, but not a word was said about Sony's massive privacy violations, described for instance in the article Ritz linked to. What's up with that?

Media flunkies not wanting to lose out on the perks Sony PR occasionally sends their way?

[Delphine]

Every mainstream news article I've come across focuses on Sony bringing out the handkerchief and pointing the finger at those dastardly hackers, but not a word was said about Sony's massive privacy violations, described for instance in the article Ritz linked to. What's up with that?

The mainstream media hasn't been about covering the truth, great and small, for a long time. Where have you been?

[gr4yJ4Y]

Every mainstream news article I've come across focuses on Sony bringing out the handkerchief and pointing the finger at those dastardly hackers, but not a word was said about Sony's massive privacy violations, described for instance in the article Ritz linked to. What's up with that?

I'm not sure how legit a post on some message board is. Maybe the mainstream media is thinking the same way.

[gr4yJ4Y]

PlayStation Network, down since April 20, will return this week, said Kazuo Hirai, the second-in-command for Sony Corp., at a news conference today in Tokyo.

So the end is in sight. The article says it will take a while before the PlayStation Store and some other features are back online though.

Hirai outlined details of Sony's recovery plan today at a news conference in Japan. Regarding the "Welcome Back" program, alluded to in "make-good" promises extended by Sony Computer Entertainment earlier this week, all PlayStation Network subscribers will get a month of PlayStation Plus premium service free; existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will get their terms extended a month, free. "Selected PlayStation entertainment content" will also be offered for free, on a region-by-region basis, as a welcome-back inducement. The content type was not specified, only that "it will be announced in each region soon."

Looks like we'll get some free stuff. Hopefully it's actually worthwhile.

[Crisis]

Sony Online Entertainment, the branch responsible for maintaining the company's MMO projects (Everquest, DC Online, Planetside), was taken down today after it was found to have been breached. According to the press release, the attack happened at the same time as the PSN hack, but was undiscovered until now.

12,700 credit card account numbers were taken along with 24.6 million accounts now known to be compromised, taking the total up to over 100 million (although fewer if you don't count duplicates).

My two cents: the credit card leak was fairly minor, and if this is the worst of it then Sony probably got off very lightly. What's worrying is the colossal scale of data leakage combined with Sony's inability to accurately assess the damage even 2 weeks after the incident began.

[gr4yJ4Y]

from "an outdated database from 2007."

Hmm...

[Farmer]

And that's the end of that chapter.

[Green Gibbon!]

The Japanese servers still aren't working. The update was applied, but I still get automatically logged out.

[Yami CJMErl]

Yeah, about that--apparently the Japanese government is blocking the restoration of services in Japan until Sony can better explain to them exactly what they're doing to improve security.

[MiraiTails]

...The company today announced its "Welcome Back" program, which is letting all existing PSN and Qriocity users in North America pick two of the following games: Dead Nation, inFAMOUS, LittleBigPlanet, Super Stardust HD, and Wipeout HD + Fury. PSP users, meanwhile, can chose two from LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, Pursuit Force, and Kill Liberation. You can claim the games at some point in the next 30 days, and once you've downloaded, they're yours to keep. ...

My PS3 is basically my Uncharted machine, so I'm not sure which games to download. Anyone care to give their advice/opinion? Thanks in advance.

[Segaholic2]

inFamous and LBP are good full disc games. Wipeout HD was great. Super Stardust HD is supposed to be good, and I really don't know anything about Dead Nation. I'm going to get SSHD and Dead Nation since those are the only two I don't own already.

[Senbei]

Hell yeah Wipeout HD.

Dead Nation is a fun, hard, well-done top-down shooter. I wouldn't bother to play it by myself, but it's very fun with a friend.