PlayStation-maker asks San Diego G-men to help hunt down hackers as North American lawmakers launch inquiries into PlayStation Network data leak.
This morning, the British government's Information Commissioner's Office announced it was opening an inquiry into the ongoing PlayStation Network outage and data leak. Now, US and Canadian government bodies have joined the chorus demanding answers about the exposure, which could potentially lead to the theft of up to 77 million PSN users' personal information.
Reuters reports that US Representative Mary Bono Mack (R-California) has asked members of the US House of Representatives' subcommittee for commerce, manufacturing, and trade to begin looking into the data leak. Mack, the widow of the late US Representative Sonny Bono, chairs the subcommittee, which will apparently soon weigh in on whether hearings are needed on the matter. Mack's move comes one day after US Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) called on Sony to offer full disclosure to PSN users if their information was compromised.
Reuters also reports that Sony has contacted the San Diego office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's cybercrimes unit to look into the data breach. The news service could not get public comment, but it did cite unnamed sources as saying say the law enforcement body was investigating the matter.
Meanwhile, north of the border, Canadian authorities are also looking into the PSN debacle. Canada's privacy commissioner told the Vancouver Sun that it, too, is launching an inquiry.
"We are currently looking into this matter and are seeking information from Sony," a spokesperson said. "We will determine next steps once we have a full understanding of the incident."
Unfortunately for Sony, the worst may be yet to come. "European countries are going to go crazy and be all over this," Dan Burk, a professor at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, told Reuters. "They are absolutely obsessed about companies holding personal information."
The increasing attention of government bodies is just the latest wrinkle in the increasingly convoluted timeline of the PlayStation Network outage and data leak. Earlier today, the first lawsuit over the matter was filed, with an Alabama man seeking class-action status on behalf of all PlayStation users whose accounts may have been compromised.
Uhhh this was probably because the data was there it has nothing to do with "GeoHot" it is just someone that took advantage of the situation. i wouldn't be surprised if the person that did it was part of sony and just trying to make a buck while burning the Hackers that ousted them. I don't hate the play I hate the game. I don't trust billionaire as far as i can throw them. End of story.
@awheaten: sorry for the delay in response. I was busy playing my own AAA games :). It doesn't take but a second to break down your silly rant, so it took no time off my games nor my life
I no yh they've ruined people's entertainment just for a few details that were encrypted. They've bought down a whole multi billion dollar company for 2 weeks.
If I met any one of these hackers I would honestly punch them right in the face. I really, REALLY hate hackers that use their knowledge for evil.
the Hackers will get Life behind bars.. But Due to there Skills as a Hacker the Government will hire them to Create Security and get a well paying job.
A week of silence, though our data could have been used to steel our money and even today they can't fully disclose what data has been compromised. I wonder if they will offer to compensate expenses of credit card cancellation ?
Haha it would've been funny if it was GeoHot haha.. I can imagine this scenario.. GeoHot says to himself-: F U Sony. This is payback xD If it was him that would've been a Huge F U to Sony, but I doubt it.. though its a funny thought xD
@RavenXavier Dude if you don't know what you are talking about stop posting crap "Three-digit security code" On Psn you were never required to enter it...
@FireFox1988 The reason people are making such a BIG DEAL over the data that Sony stockpiled is because it's FAR MORE than just someone's name and address. Sony stockpiled accounts, including first name, last name, address, zip code, country, phone, email, email password, date of birth, credit card number, expiration date, and three-digit security code. That right there is All The Info needed for a criminal to MAX OUT someone's credit card and bomb someone's credit rating For Good. Even when the credit card company learns the information from false purchases was made with stolen info the person's who's card was used STILL has their credit score RUINED. The credit card companies won't hold the person who's info was stolen responsible, but the credit score is toast anyway. It happens all the time and people who have never committed a crime of any kind still pay the price and can't buy things like houses or cars in the future because their credit card was stolen at one point. That's FACT. That's why people are making such a BIG DEAL out of this as Sony was NOT Legally Allowed to stockpile that information. In a small way, people should be thanking the hackers for showing this to the world and that's probably what the point of the whole hack was about.
The hackers are a problem, very true and they should be punished, BUT, Sony SHOULD be punished for ILLEGALLY Keep Private Information of their users. What's even worse, is that if the PSN wouldn't have been hacked like it was, people would have NEVER KNOWN that Sony was stockpiling this information so they could try to make money off it later. When I worked in telecommunications I found out lots of companies stockpile personal data on people and then SELL it to advertisers even though that Is Illegal. They do it Anyway and then tell everyone they would Never Do That...
Looks as if some group took things just a bit too far. I am not one to say something like " Burn the hackers " , But who ever it was is probably going to be in prison and in debt for the rest of there lives.
I am so sad about what's going on. I hope that this gets resolved as soon as possible because it seems the crap just hit the fan real hard. So Home Land Security & the FBI will have to find a way to get Sony out of this trouble before it's too late. There is nothing that can be done for now to the European Zone only as statement for the time being until there is some kind of an update. For these reason that's why i don't use credit cards.
Yeah, you hear that ya bunch of fukin' geeks! The FBI is on yo' ass now, so don't be hopin' for no mercy when you get snuffed! Sorry! Couldn't contain my anger :)
As much as Sony deserves the attack, it's getting pretty stupid now. Whoever is responsible for this (I hear its Anon) seriously needs to take a chill pill.. it's pretty ridiculous and immature of them. Any message they were trying to get across has basically been lost..
@mario-nin-freak oh okay it sounded like you were saying that it was no big deal that psn was hacked
This is not a question of Sony's ability to handle our info. That is your responsibility. Plus, you just cant hold Sony responsible for this. Basically you are saying the victim of a crime is responsible for not protecting itself adequately. They handled it just fine, nothing is hack proof. Just ask the FBI, CIA, NSA, NORAD, Google, Amazon, numerous security agencies world wide, its just damn near impossible to hack proof something. Who cares about the "Other OS" feature. You didnt have to download the new updates. You want to use the PS3 for your own imagination? Go ahead, but keep that PS3 off the public network. Keep it off the PSN service completely. Whats wrong with that?
Another thing, people are freaking out over PUBLIC DATA. I can get almost anyone's name and address as well as birth date. These are public records. Why is everyone freaking out about that? Its sad everyone is blowing this way out of proportion. Sony has covered themselves every step of the way. They notified us of an "external intrusion" on the 21st of April. Anyone half way intelligent person knows that means they were hacked. That should have led anyone with a hint of common sense to realize what the risks were at that point. The possibilities were clear at that point. Everyone complaining because they took a few days to investigate to CONFIRM if personal info had been compromised. And when they CONFIRMED it had, they told us right away they CONFIRMED it. It was all the users own responsibility to take appropriate actions after the first notice of "external intrusion". Or just use a damn PSN Pay Card and be done with it. Use a fake address, nickname, or something else. They dont require the info you provide to be accurate UNLESS using credit cards.
It took them over 5 years to hack the PSN service. XBOX was hacked within the first year. And still is today. Plenty of people still play pirated games online and off with the XBOX. They are no better. They have been down more than the PSN has, and you have to pay for XBL. So you cant blame Sony for falling behind the hackers. They are starting to think it was an inside job. So this was not just some punk hacking to cause trouble. This was an orchestrated hack. And you CANNOT blame the person/entity that was hacked.
How can you side with the idiots from Alabama and California? How can you say its ok to sue the victim of a crime? So if someone robs your bank, the bank should be sued for not protecting itself? The people who think Sony should be sued over this should not have credit cards. Sony didnt REQUIRE any true information to play on the PSN. Sony does not REQUIRE you to pay with credit cards. YOU chose to use credit cards and input your real information. YOU chose to save that data for future purchases. YOU chose NOT to use the PSN pay cards. Which are completely safe and anonymous. If any is at fault, its the users for trusting in the internet. Nothing is safe from hackers.
@Chickenesta Maybe you do have a point there. Isn't it ironic? Sony just released a slew of updates that were supposed to crack down on PSN hackers, but just screwed over the users (eg. Other OS removal). And now Sony just got hacked and taken to the ground. HARD. :( WHY DO HACKERS HAVE TO BE SUCH DOOSHBAGS?
I think its good that Sony is trying to nail the person or people behind this. Maybe in there Pulse edition they can show them catching the person and putting the ass in jail. They will get by this.
This is wrong. Why is it that we have thease kind of crimes? I know that it is the internet and nothing is safe, but it should be. And people should have enouf respect to NOT steal. But I know they don't. I thank the Alabama man for seaking justics on behalf of of all Play Station users, if not for him we may not have a voice. Let us hope that the people that we have put in charge of our safety and secuerty can fix this problem and bring the people responceable for this to jail. However, we all know how "well" the goverment works so we can expect to see an improvement in five to ten years. Just please;! fix the network, make it more sucure, and let us get back to gameing.
hmmm FBI for a breach where encrypted information wasnt taken. Im starting to think the hacker mite be from a country outside of the US/EU/JP jurisdiction. Whatever the hacker did put fear in Sony. It seems not just PSN but all of Sony's services. I'm amusing they use to same security system for other sony features.
I don't know how true this is but theirs reports that the hackers are attempting to sell off PSN DB info they stole which they claim also has credit card numbers and CVV2s. Sony is saying the credit cards were encrypted, but the hackers say they made it into the main database, which would have given them access to everything, including credit card numbers. Here's story link -> http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109661-Hackers-Offer-PSN-Credit-Cards-For-Sale
That's it Sony. Run around like headless chickens after the fact instead of putting in a bit of effort at the start to look after your customers. Just goes to prove the old adage, you don't get nothin' for free. I'm just glad I never gave Sony my CC details & instead chose to use my XBox for online.
Let this be a lesson to Sony if they make it to the next console, DON'T MAKE IT ONLINE CAPABLE. Look at your past record, PS and PS2 had great games and almost no online, while the PS3 has had mediocre games while consentrating on online modes. If you want to make multiplayer games make "living room" multiplayer games.
I really wouldnt want to be in Sonys shoes at the moment this is getting pretty serious lol
If the Hackers are in Russia or China, I can guarantee nothing will happen to them at all. You all seem to be forgetting China has an army of hackers on the official government payroll. They hacked Gmail without breaking a sweat over the whole Google V China thing and Google simply got a FU back when they cried to Chinas government to do something about it.
@SuperYeti22 These things don't just happen SuperYeti22, someone dropped a bollock at Sony and not only has PSN been unavailable for over a week 77 million people have had their names, passwords, emails, addresses and other personal data stolen, this data can easily be misused. And what have Sony said to me in an email I got from them last night? "Sorry but we can't rule our your card details being taken either... so please sign up to a credit reference agency" I've got to pay money for piece of mind because Sony fluffed up!?
know what i would love to see? is sony enlisting george hotz help to catch the hackers... would be too epic
@nekkronaut protip: gamespot cannot into greentext. that said, I hope for a speedy resolution to this problem. Don't think sony's reputation will fully recover for a while from this blunder.
i understand that there are alot of serious things to discuss, but all i wanna say is: I want PSN back =(
Hopefully the FBI gets these hackers who have inconvenienced over 50 million ps3 owners.
@binghanem PSN has always been free.The plus feature of the network does cost though. Whereas a XBLA account is not a free account. So the fee system you had suggested may not work unless the framework of the network changes. But I can see a ot more prepaid cards being used in lieu of credit cards. This whole issuer has a lot of older folks whose cretit cards were used--are scared.It is quite possiblw they put many years into building a good credit rating. Only to see it go bye-bye.
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