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Zero Day

Ryan Naraine, Emil Protalinski and Dancho Danchev

Sony PlayStation Network hacked again; 93,000 accounts compromised

By | October 12, 2011, 8:14am PDT

Summary: Sony says “a large amount of unauthorized sign-in attempts” at its PlayStation Network has led to the hijacking of valid sign-in IDs and passwords.

Sony has confirmed another security breach at its popular PlayStation Network and warned that about 93,000 user accounts have been compromised.

The latest breach follows a massive hack in April 2011 that led to the theft of names, addresses and possibly credit card data belonging to 77 million user accounts.

The latest hack, flagged by Sony as “a large amount of unauthorized sign-in attempts,” led to the hijacking of valid sign-in IDs and passwords.

From Sony’s statement:

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Less than one tenth of one percent of our PSN, SEN and SOE consumers may have been affected. There were approximately 93,000 accounts (PSN/SEN: approximately 60,000 accounts; SOE: approximately 33,000) where the attempts succeeded in verifying those accounts’ valid sign-in IDs and passwords, and we have temporarily locked these accounts. As a preventative measure, we will be sending email notifications to these account holders and will be requiring secure password resets or informing consumers of password reset procedures.

The company said credit card numbers associated with these accounts are not at risk as a result of these unauthorized attempts.

“Only a small fraction of these 93,000 accounts showed additional activity prior to being locked. We are continuing to investigate the extent of unauthorized activity on any of these accounts,” Sony added.

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Topics

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues.

Disclosure

Ryan Naraine

The most important disclosure is of my employment with Kaspersky Lab as a member of the global research and analysis team. Kaspersky Lab is a global company specializing in anti-malware and secure content management technologies. I do not own stocks or other investments in any technology company.

Biography

Ryan Naraine

Ryan Naraine is a journalist and social media enthusiast specializing in Internet and computer security issues. He is currently security evangelist at Kaspersky Lab, an anti-malware company with operations around the globe. He is taking a leadership role in developing the company's online community initiative around secure content management technologies.

Prior to joining Kaspersky Lab, Ryan was Editor-at-Large/Security at eWEEK, leading the magazine's and Web site's coverage of Internet and computer security issues and managing the popular SecurityWatch blog, covering the daily threats, vulnerabilities and IT security technologies. He also covered IT security, hacker attacks and secure content management topics for Jupiter Media's internetnetnews.com.

Ryan can be reached at naraine SHIFT 2 gmail.com. For daily updates on Ryan's activities, follow him on Twitter.

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0 Votes
+ -
Sony is in trouble....
tgschmidt Updated - 12th Oct
Flaming TV's, PS Network hacks, melting laptop batteries.... Glad I don't have a single Sony product in my house!
0 Votes
+ -
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Given the method, it's most likely some OTHER site or service that got hacked and they're banking on the fact that most people use the same password for everything. There's not really anything Sony (or anyone else for that matter) could have done.
0 Votes
+ -
Sony should use only FOSS and its best practices
The Linux Geek Updated - 12th Oct
to thwart these attacks.
@The Linux Geek Maybe is a good advice, but the fact that linux os / apps have not so many security flaws is not because they don't have it but because hackers prefers to aim to other targets (Same with iOS). Android is a proof of that. Being so popular these days among phones and tablets have proved being a tasty menu for hackers and security issues have arisen in large amounts. The matter here is that Sony must strengthen their security a lot more, but it is no use if users still use weak passwords and the same username for all the websites they visit including suspicious ones.
@Y2j-Hotaru
+1
good post. I hope those Linux fanboys will understand what you've just posted.
@The Linux Geek
Can we simply assume from your statement that you just said Linux and Android are not FOSS. Glad to know that.
@The Linux Geek

They probably have people like you employed there that have not a clue how to secure a network or a computer.
@bobiroc
+1000000.
A million thanks for the laugh you brought with that comment. grin
@The Linux Geek

You know, I've this sickening feeling that this is Loverock's counter-troll account to try and make the majority of Linux users appear pretty retarded. I mean, there's a lot of zealots out there, sure- but those folks usually know what is going on.

This kid seems clueless, kind of like Davidson.
Wow, color me chagrined. I better start checking activity on my Xbox live account, something may have happened.
People have been down on me because of my frequent advocacy of the Xbox and Microsoft integration with media extenders (which are not trouble free).

I buy my Microsoft points using a prepaid card from CVS (local chain) and I use a green dot mastercard for most other online transactions. "Trust no one, you won't be dissapointed"...some old DIA guy I knew.
Poor japanese, I really pity them. They have experienced the worst year I guess. Tsunami, Nuclear leak, displaced families and I even heard their sea export to US was just dumped to the seas because US authorities won't accept the level of radiation in the products. Due to loss businesses and professions in Japan, I heard from a local Japanese friend that the number of suicides in Japan actually increased.

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