Complete nightmare
It didn't look like the hack into Sony's online services could get any worse, but it has. Following the discovery of a hack into the PlayStation Network and Qriosity, Sony undertook a thorough investigation of all its digital services in what seemed like a classic piece of stable door shutting at the time.
But it turns out that Sony Online Entertainment(SOE) - the MMO gaming arm of Sony, responsible for games such as EverQuest and DC Universe Online - was also breached, resulting in the personal information of 24.6 million active account holders and 12,700 credit card details from an ‘outdated database'.
"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," said a Sony announcement today.
"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 top of all the expense, embarrassment and potential legal ramifications of this latest breach, it comes after Sony has reportedly assured users that SOE was unaffected, according to Joystiq. Sony has subsequently confirmed to the same site that this breach was part of the same attack, despite their being separate systems.
Sony is making all sorts of vows to compensate its SOE customers, including 30 days free gaming and a ‘make good' plan for its MMOs, the details of which have yet to be released. But it's hard to view this as anything other than a critical setback to Sony's online operations and a major boost to those of its competitors.
