PSN Outage Continues, Console Hack Claimed To Be Responsible
Found on Slashdot on Monday, 25 April 2011
The PlayStation Network had been down for days, with Sony saying little other than that it was caused by an "external intrusion" and that they were "rebuilding their network."
Sony just posted more details, saying that a massive data breach occurred: An "unauthorized person" has PSN users' "name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID." Billing address, password questions, and credit card info may also have been taken.
Quite valuable information that sells well on the dark market. For all that, nobody but Sony is to blame because they relied on the assumption that their PS3 would stay locked down forever and nobody would be able to alter its firmware. It's always a bad idea to leave an essential aspect of your security plan under control of users.