Giant Bomb News

Sony Pushes Back on Credit Card Speculation, Clarifies Password "Encryption" [Updated]

10 million credit cards were exposed, so folks are still pretty spooked.

Update: This story has been edited to reflect that roughly 10 million credit cards were, in fact, exposed. It's unclear if the details were actually obtained, however.

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It's little surprise many of the 77 million users affected by the security breach of PlayStation Network continue to be skeptical of Sony's comments, despite it holding an all-hands-on-deck press conference in Japan over the weekend. The company took to the PlayStation Blog today to further address issues.

The fate of everyone's credit card information remains the thorniest issue. Sony admitted at its press conference roughly 10 million credit cards were exposed--a significant number. A Friday report filed by The New York Times also stoked the flames. The publication spoke to several security analysts, who said there was chatter on known hacker boards of a database containing the information 2.2 million PSN users--credit card details included. The hackers alleged they offered the database back to Sony, too..

"One report indicated that a group tried to sell millions of credit card numbers back to Sony," said senior director of corporate communications and social media Patrick Seybold. "To my knowledge there is no truth to this report of a list, or that Sony was offered an opportunity to purchase the list."


Eyebrows were also raised over Sony's description of stored PSN passwords. Encrypted? Not encrypted? Sony described the passwords as unencrypted, says the company, because they weren't. Rather, the passwords were accessed through a cryptographic hash function and not stored in cleartext.

Does that sound like gobbledygook? Sony provided a few links (number one, number two) with details.

"We continue to work with law enforcement and forensic experts to identify the criminals behind the attack," added Seybold. "Once again, we apologize for causing users concern over this matter."

Some aspects of PSN are expected to come back online this week, trophies and cloud saves intact.    
GetEveryoneon May 2, 2011 at 12:23 p.m.
Considering I've been having some sketchy goings on with my card (not that they're even remotely connected), it's good to hear they're trying their best to rectify it.
MordeaniisChaos is online on May 2, 2011 at 12:23 p.m.
Yay for no more 404
AmishTechSupporton May 2, 2011 at 12:23 p.m.
Oh, Sony.
benjaebeon May 2, 2011 at 12:24 p.m.
Glad they're keeping us updated.
Commisar123on May 2, 2011 at 12:24 p.m.
So what the hell does that even mean?
Winsordon May 2, 2011 at 12:25 p.m.
Credit card numbers were probably not taken; I'd assume they were 128-bit encrypted like all e-financing.
Jeffsekaion May 2, 2011 at 12:26 p.m.
cool
ApolloBobon May 2, 2011 at 12:27 p.m.
Seybold later went on to say "Hey how about that Bin Laden thing - that's news right?  Who's that behind you?" before running out of the room.
tourgenon May 2, 2011 at 12:28 p.m.
any mention anywhere of what hashing function they used on the passwords?
golddeathmonkeyon May 2, 2011 at 12:28 p.m.
smooth move hoover
superscott597on May 2, 2011 at 12:29 p.m.
I just want to play some Demon's Souls without the stupid connection error message.
nintendoeatson May 2, 2011 at 12:30 p.m.
I'm actually kind of OK with how they are handling things now. It's just that they keep proving that they are incompetent at security. I have trouble forgiving that.
Darkstalkeron May 2, 2011 at 12:30 p.m.
So.....many....psn....articles....
SeriouslyNowon May 2, 2011 at 12:32 p.m.
@Winsord said:
" Credit card numbers were probably not taken; I'd assume they were 128-bit encrypted like all e-financing. "
You mean like we all assumed their PS3 encryption random seed was random when it wasn't random at all?  I think it's best to assume nothing or at the very least, the worst.
QKTon May 2, 2011 at 12:32 p.m.
if they handled it well in the first place they could have said this from the start.
Matiaz_Tapiaon May 2, 2011 at 12:33 p.m.
 A report of a previous report about rumors about speculation in a forum from an outside report about a forum report.
ReyGitanoon May 2, 2011 at 12:40 p.m.
@SeriouslyNow said:
" @Winsord said:
" Credit card numbers were probably not taken; I'd assume they were 128-bit encrypted like all e-financing. "
You mean like we all assumed their PS3 encryption random seed was random when it wasn't random at all?  I think it's best to assume nothing or at the very least, the worst. "
I feel like even Sony isn't sure what they were doing anymore, and I'm starting to trust news from elsewhere more than news from Sony, which isn't a good policy to have.
Billychuon May 2, 2011 at 12:45 p.m.
There's absolutely no way they didn't use 128-bit encryption.  Your CC info is safe.
Winternet is online on May 2, 2011 at 12:47 p.m.
So many Sony news.
Legendon May 2, 2011 at 12:49 p.m.
@Darkstalker said:
" So.....many....psn....articles.... "
Yeah, I say make them stop until we get some real news. I don't feel any more informed after reading these articles tbh.I know Sony is to blame for the lack of real news, but that doesn't mean we need new articles every day for every little tidbit they "announce".

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