The dreaded email we all knew was coming

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PlayStation®Network

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Valued PlayStation®Network/Qriocity Customer:

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011,

certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account

information was compromised in connection with an illegal and

unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this

intrusion, we have:

1) Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;

2) Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full

and complete investigation into what happened; and

3) Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our

network infrastructure by rebuilding our system to provide you

with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill

as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and

efficiently as practicable.

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident,

we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following

information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country,

email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login,

and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data,

including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip),

and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may

have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your

dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have

been obtained. While 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.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email,

telephone and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive

information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email,

asking for your credit card number, social security number or other

personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information,

you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation

Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that

you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation

Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or

accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we

encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and

to monitor your credit reports. We are providing the following information

for those who wish to consider it:

- U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually

from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report,

visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.

- We have also provided names and contact information for the three major U.S.

credit bureaus below. At no charge, U.S. residents can have these credit

bureaus

place a "fraud alert" on your file that alerts creditors to take additional

steps

to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can

make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however,

that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you,

it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your

identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others

are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a

fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report,

please contact any one of the agencies listed below:

Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division,

P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

- You may wish to visit the website of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at

www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania

Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further information about how to protect

yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may also have advice

on preventing identity theft, and you should report instances of known or

suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General,

and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be

contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone

(877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov. For Maryland residents, the Attorney

General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202;

telephone: (888) 743-0023; or www.oag.state.md.us.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this

incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the

clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes

information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that

additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information.

Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is

our utmost priority. Please contact us at 1-800-345-7669 should you have any

additional questions.

Sincerely,

Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment

Yeah I got this same one.

I don't really need to start ranting again in this post too, but I also got this email. UNHASHED PASSWORDS! W. T. F!

Holy crap...

I've not got one yet. Hopefully don't, haven't even used my PS3 in ages.

Luckily the credit card on the account is no longer active

I got one too. I created an account when my friend let me borrow his ps3 last year, never used a card on it though.

I got an SOE notice because I made an online account with my PS2 like 5+ years ago. The e-mail and passwords are completely different than what I have today, though, and no credit card was on it. Even if there was, it'd be long since expired lol.

You are right I wouldn't ever want an email from sony,

The latest email I got from them is saying the passwords where hashed. So, that's better news. And I just read on wired that they found an Anonymous calling card. However, that would be a pretty good and easy idea for the real hackers to leave. So, it could go either way.

Wired Article.