General: SOE Admits Data Stolen by Hackers

SBFord

Embattled Sony Online Entertainment has sent out a new press release following yesterday's shutdown of Station.com. In the announcement, SOE admits to being a victim of data theft from its San Diego location affecting over 24.6 million accounts.

This information, which was discovered by engineers and security consultants reviewing SOE systems, showed that personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007. The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.

With the current outage of the PlayStation® Network and Qriocity™ services and the ongoing investigation into the recent attacks, SOE had also undertaken an intensive investigation into its system. Upon discovery of this additional information, the company promptly shut down all servers related to SOE services while continuing to review and upgrade all of its online security systems in the face of these unprecedented cyber-attacks.

On May 1, Sony apologized to its customers for the inconvenience caused by its network services outages. The company is working with the FBI and continuing its own full investigation while working to restore all services.

Read the full press release from Sony Online Entertainment.

Harbinger1975

Not only that Suzie, but lawsuits are going out against Sony.  They are going to be hurt big time by this.

mklinic

I read "as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007" and it cross my mind, as a bit of humor: it'd be interesting if the pre-NGE source code were discovered in an "outdated database." :P

Otherwise, its a pretty crappy situation for current and past customers.

JeroKane

Originally posted by misles

Not only that Suzie, but lawsuits are going out against Sony.  They are going to be hurt big time by this.

And rightfully so!

The hackers are not the only criminals in this debacle. They basically exposed an enormous security hole in both PSN and SOE's network and Sony / SOE's disregard towards their customer's Personal Information that was stored without any form of encryption in their databases!

Sony's PSN and SOE's network were just a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. And now it did.

Harbinger1975

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by misles

Not only that Suzie, but lawsuits are going out against Sony.  They are going to be hurt big time by this.

And rightfully so!

The hackers are not the only criminals in this debacle. They basically exposed an enormous security hole in both PSN and SOE's network and Sony / SOE's disregard towards their customer's Personal Information that was stored without any form of encryption in their databases!

Sony's PSN and SOE's network were just a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. And now it did.

 

Some interesting reading from Business Week and other new sources:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-04-28/sony-faces-lawsuit-regulators-probe-over-playstation-hack.html

http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/04/27/6544610-sony-sued-could-bleed-billions-following-playstation-network-hack

 

I don't mean to kick a man when he's down.  But dear Lord in heaven, if the crap from DCUO didn't hurt SOE, this is going to practically annihilate them.  It makes me wonder if they're going to file for Chapter 11.

April-Rain

just to be safe i have had a credit card and debit card replaced, i no longer believe or will ever trust sony with my details or debit/ credit cards again

Harbinger1975

I did the same k1klass.  I don't trust Sony as far as I can throw them.

Talin

Originally posted by mklinic

I read "as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007" and it cross my mind, as a bit of humor: it'd be interesting if the pre-NGE source code were discovered in an "outdated database." :P

Otherwise, its a pretty crappy situation for current and past customers.

The hackers didn't want personal information or credit card information, they wanted their old SWG back!!!!!

deadmilk

There are some fucking amazing hackers out there. Using your credit card online is a risk with any company.

DarkPony

I hope the entire industry learns from this.

Stewe79

Hurrm...

Chang the word Hackers to Crackers..

Hackers dont involve in crimes.

Kironesq

I knew they had a security issue ever since the large quantity of account hackings that happened about a year ago. I didn't even touch my account for about six months before it happened.

Yasou

First phishing e-mails are being sent out apparently. Ignore them. See post on EQ2 Wire.com

museandali

Originally posted by Talin

Originally posted by mklinic

I read "as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007" and it cross my mind, as a bit of humor: it'd be interesting if the pre-NGE source code were discovered in an "outdated database." :P

Otherwise, its a pretty crappy situation for current and past customers.

The hackers didn't want personal information or credit card information, they wanted their old SWG back!!!!!

 

So many things wrong with this.

For one: NGE went live in '05 2 years before this mythical hackd database of theres

For two: hearing PRE-CU people blather on about something that's never going to happen on a legal server is about as lulzy as people still whining about Trammel/Felucca.    We have MMO'ers that have been born after that crap.

Seriously, let it go.

Miles-Prower

This is disturbing news. I've played EQII before and my credit card information is still there. I admit I haven't played EQ2 in over 5 years, but it's possible someone might have my CC info.

The whole PSN thing didn't bother me because I don't care about Playstation Network or do I own a Playstation, but now that SOE has been targetted, I'm wondering what else these thieves might have..

 

~Miles "Tails" Prower out! Catch me if you can!

jeremyjodes

Originally posted by Talin

Originally posted by mklinic

I read "as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007" and it cross my mind, as a bit of humor: it'd be interesting if the pre-NGE source code were discovered in an "outdated database." :P

Otherwise, its a pretty crappy situation for current and past customers.

The hackers didn't want personal information or credit card information, they wanted their old SWG back!!!!!

 Did they get the code? or is just a rumor or speculation?

spookydom

Thanks Hackers and Sony. Another fun morning changeing all my passwords and swaping credit crads.

museandali

Originally posted by jeremyjodes

Originally posted by Talin

Originally posted by mklinic

I read "as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007" and it cross my mind, as a bit of humor: it'd be interesting if the pre-NGE source code were discovered in an "outdated database." :P

Otherwise, its a pretty crappy situation for current and past customers.

The hackers didn't want personal information or credit card information, they wanted their old SWG back!!!!!

 Did they get the code? or is just a rumor or speculation?

 

furthermore:  billions of dollars of lost money for sony, and god only knows how much lost for people who are sony customers, and you're concerned about pre-NGE?  get over yourselves.

Ayonar

Ive been a long time supporter and subscriber to SOE's games, and a fan of the ps3 as well...but i have a very hard time feeling any sort of sympathy for Sony about any of this. They knew of these security shortcomings before any of this happened, as well as picking a fight with the hacking community. Im not saying i condone or agree with the actions of whoever was responsible for the attack, but theyre gonna take a massive hit for this and have no one to blame but themselves. Glad i didnt resub to EQ2 over the weekend like i had originally planned to, lol.

rygard49

And still they haven't contacted their customers personally by any means to let them know their information has been compromised. Imagine all those people who don't read game news or go to fansites? Those people are going to get screwed when the thieves start using all that credit card info.

severius

Originally posted by SBFord

Embattled Sony Online Entertainment has sent out a new press release following yesterday's shutdown of Station.com. In the announcement, SOE admits to data theft from its San Diego location affecting over 24.6 million accounts.

This information, which was discovered by engineers and security consultants reviewing SOE systems, showed that personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007. The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.

With the current outage of the PlayStation® Network and Qriocity™ services and the ongoing investigation into the recent attacks, SOE had also undertaken an intensive investigation into its system. Upon discovery of this additional information, the company promptly shut down all servers related to SOE services while continuing to review and upgrade all of its online security systems in the face of these unprecedented cyber-attacks.

On May 1, Sony apologized to its customers for the inconvenience caused by its network services outages. The company is working with the FBI and continuing its own full investigation while working to restore all services.

Read the full press release from Sony Online Entertainment.

How lovely.  Got an email from SOE today saying all this.  Funny thing, I haven't had an active subscription in years, yet they still kept all my information.  Because of their hoarding of my information for, most likely nefarious purposes, my info is now out in the wilds.  30 days of subscription bs is not going to help myself and the thousands of people that long ago cancelled our SOE accounts.  Guess this is what we should come to expect from this part of the world, the same place that sells used children's underwear in vending machines.  Anyone have the link for the class action law suit against these fugs?

mklinic

Originally posted by museandali

Originally posted by Talin

Originally posted by mklinic

I read "as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007" and it cross my mind, as a bit of humor: it'd be interesting if the pre-NGE source code were discovered in an "outdated database." :P

Otherwise, its a pretty crappy situation for current and past customers.

The hackers didn't want personal information or credit card information, they wanted their old SWG back!!!!!

 

So many things wrong with this.

For one: NGE went live in '05 2 years before this mythical hackd database of theres

For two: hearing PRE-CU people blather on about something that's never going to happen on a legal server is about as lulzy as people still whining about Trammel/Felucca.    We have MMO'ers that have been born after that crap.

Seriously, let it go.

So many thing wrong with this...

For one: I pointed out the quote, from the article, about an "outdated database" (which contained old CC info, not security codes, etc etc for specific companies) and then went on to say that it would be interesting if pre-NGE code were discovered in an "outdated database". If I said "the outdated database" then sure I could see your nitpicking the date. But, where there is one outdated database there are likely others so it seemed a humorous aside to the otherwise humorless situation that Sony customers (and past customers) are faced with.

For two: the post was a "it'd be funny if" 3-liner which hardly constitutes as blathering on or even an expressed intent. The follow-up seemed in the same context, but I can't speak for that poster.

It's not even a matter of letting it go. When a company makes a high profile mistake, it is only natural to discuss that mistake and look to past mistakes for a sense of context. For many, sure, SOE's biggest mess up was the CU/NGE combo. Many thought they would be hard pressed to top that. Now, they've managed to one-up themselves not even in just the SOE division, but across products. Impressive to say the least.

Kenze

I just resubed to Station access like 4or5 days ago... i wonder if this data breach also includes the  "verified by visa" info i had to give to sub?

this is just terrible all around   dang you SOE and these crackers all the heck!

 

sorry for the rough languae

Faelan

I've been spending the afternoon changing passwords and e-mails for the MMOs I'm currently playing and those I think there's a chance I might go back to. Paypal as well just to be safe. CC is due to expire soon and the embedded chip is buggy, so I need a new one anyway. But seriously... not my idea of a fun afternoon... especially since it's been a while since I've touched a SOE game. Even when I'm not actively playing one of their games, they're still finding ways to screw me it seems.

spookydom

Just had an email from Sony Online Entertainment. Wen't into my junkbox. Don't know if it's legit or not so not opening. Funny thing is this email account is not tied to any S.O.E games.

Talonsin

I am guessing Sony was targeted due to the terrible way they treat their customers and the poor quality of their games.  I hope other publishers are paying attention.