Can we change our login password while offline? I haven't even tried signing in since PSN went down.

How is hacking the PSN similar to acquiring your SSN from just your name and address?

I think you can but if they can access it then it doesn't matter if you change it anyway.

@Nami88, as I said I'm just assuming, but they also have your email that can possibly hold a virus and those sort of things. Not only that, if someone has your Credit card information don't they pretty much hold any info about you? And they can max it. I'm not sure about the SSN, but I'm assuming there are ways to get ahold of it.

You guys are over thinking the issue...

Better than thinking its nothing then getting your identity stolen and having your credit cards maxed.

They can probably get it from your credit card.

Thats kind of what I was thinking, but I don't really know anything about that, I was just discussing.

How is this going to affect Sony and the PlayStation brand moving forward?

it wont.

Why would they? It's only a payment method, not some key to all your secrets.

I doubt that very much. You should check out the IGN playstation podcast they put up a little while ago.

So I don't log on to PSN for a week or so and now when I do, look what I come back to. Possible identity theft.
Fun. <_<

You've missed the point entirely. Sony made a mistake setting up their network security, which exposed a vulnerability, which was exploited. If XBL had a similar vulnerability you can bet the bank it would have been exploited by now. This isn't a matter of whose security is better, it's a matter of someone at Sony making a really big mistake. Please stop making it about Sony vs. Microsoft. I rather dislike both companies, to be honest.

I just got an email for PSN---sounds like PSN might be down for some time who knows it could be longer---peachy :sadvaultboy: .

This is getting worse every day.

Sorry if this has already been said but according to BBC News, during the disruption, hackers might have stolen any credit card details that were on some of the accounts. I really hope the BBC is wrong...

No, you are wrong. You don't "decide" to hack someone and then it happens. Hacking isn't something you just keep trying at and eventually it works, and in this case specifically nobody decided "Let's compromise sony!", it just sort of happened, because sony's idea of network security is closer to "Well, if it's coming from our playstations which are 100% secure always completely, we should trust it!" than something remotely sensible. This is not a situation that should have happened, and is simply the end result of a catalog of failures. There's a reason people say "Don't use security through obscurity" (Or, don't rely on hiding things to protect yourself), and this is exactly it. Because there's no protection there at all if somebody discovers what you're doing.

Official word is that credit card data has not been accessed. Whether that remains true is to be seen. Also, Sony wants to write a message to anybody whose data has been accessed at all.
I think I should stop talking about stuff like that. I only seem to make things worse, be it earthquakes or data theft. I'm just bloody glad that I only used pre-paid cards lately, and the only credit card I used is dead now.

"Better safe than Sony."

I'm hoping that whoever is doing this is doing it to target Sony and isn't going to do anything with our info, but I have high hopes because I don't want to have to cancel my card and what I have going through it. Gonna let it go for a number of hours today and if worse comes to worse I'll just have to call my bank. This is the last time I'll be giving my CC info to Sony though, that's for sure.

Yeah, it's looking like that will be my course of action too. Actually I'm just waiting for normal working hours to begin so I can call and cancel the thing. Probably pull $50 in cash out of an ATM to get me through the two weeks it'll take to get the new card.

It makes a strong case for using pre-paid cards though, that's for sure.

Whoa, I completely forgot how reliant many US citizens are on credit cards. Makes me understand the reaction that senator showed to the typical Japanese behaviour of getting clear info on a problem first, and informing people later, much better. Knock on wood, folks.

and how dangerous they can be...

While clear information is somewhat limited, my understanding of the situation is as such: Sony's network security relied on the clients being secure, which they were, until it was discovered that their encryption was fundamentally flawed. After this was discovered, the clients could no longer be trusted, and sony rushed to try and better secure their network, which they had some success in, but then somebody else discovered that, with the ability to run whatever they like on the client, they could trick it into connecting to the sections of PSN normally only accessible by developers, which removes a lot of the authorization checking. Very soon after this information was made known, PSN went down indefinitely.

Now, while I'm not privvy to any internal information, that sounds a hell of a lot like it was stumbled upon, and sony knew that if somebody was in there, they *could* access these things. That's enough reason to kill the network entirely, wheras mere piracy is not. However, because the timeframe between discovery and shutdown was rather small, it seems highly likely to me that this is preventative, not reactive, and that details haven't actually been stolen - just that it's theoretically possible they could have been. It's reason enough to make sure you're prepared (You should be anyway), but not reason enough to panic.

Have you noticed no other game company has gotten involved with the problem? Where is NaughtyDog, Insomniac, svckerPunch, etc?? BTW you guys should contact your credit card companies/ banks and change your card info so this doesn't come back and bite you in the back.