Some of the power behind the word "hack" has been lost the past few months, as hacking becomes a routine headline, in the wake of the PlayStation Network attack that compromised 55 million accounts.

Sega's one of the most recent targets, with the company's Sega Pass database getting infiltrated, exposing the personal information (names, emails, encrypted passwords) of 1.3 million customers.

"We are deeply sorry for causing trouble to our customers," said a Sega spokesperson to Reuters. "We want to work on strengthening security."

Of course, that's what every company says following a hack. Sega did note the passwords were not stored in plain text. Sega Pass has been down since June 16.

More interestingly, noted web troublemakers LulzSec, who've been making headlines the past week or so by bringing down various online game services and websites, has offered Sega help.

"We want to help you destroy the hackers that attacked you," said LulzSec on Twitter. "We love the Dreamcast, these people are going down."

Something tells me they won't be calling.

Some of the power behind the word "hack" has been lost the past few months, as hacking becomes a routine headline, in the wake of the PlayStation Network attack that compromised 55 million accounts.

Sega's one of the most recent targets, with the company's Sega Pass database getting infiltrated, exposing the personal information (names, emails, encrypted passwords) of 1.3 million customers.

"We are deeply sorry for causing trouble to our customers," said a Sega spokesperson to Reuters. "We want to work on strengthening security."

Of course, that's what every company says following a hack. Sega did note the passwords were not stored in plain text. Sega Pass has been down since June 16.

More interestingly, noted web troublemakers LulzSec, who've been making headlines the past week or so by bringing down various online game services and websites, has offered Sega help.

"We want to help you destroy the hackers that attacked you," said LulzSec on Twitter. "We love the Dreamcast, these people are going down."

Something tells me they won't be calling.

Great!

Fuck this, this shits retarded as fuck.

I don't understand. What? Why? LulzSec, why are you guys so insane?

why is everything getting hacked now a days? :(

At this stage you're probably better off deleting your own accounts on every developer site. Just like the way you slash your own car tires or jam the console with a screwdriver. "HAHA! Jokes on you thief!"

I don't understand. What? Why? LulzSec, why are you guys so insane?

Ah, AJ, I just fell in crush with her all over again. <3

They did it for the... what exactly?

One of the people that was effected by this, was a lovely email to wake up to the other morning.

Kind of getting sick of getting these emails saying that a company's site has been hacked.

I got an email from Sega days ago about the intrusion. This is all beginning to feel so very commonplace.

ughh... I am getting sick of this.

Hack the fucking planet already.

Didn't Sega die 10 years ago ? 
 
what the hell is sega pass and who uses it exactly ?

The fact that every single company can be easily targeted and hacked with this sort of frequency really goes to show that software security needs to be updated and improved across the board. 
 
It really sucks that the end user is losing their info because of this, but nobody has reported and fraud or anything thus far right? So that could be way worse. Hopefully everyone can improve their security before real assholes decide to steal our shit =/

@Ahmad_Metallic said:

Didn't Sega die 10 years ago ? what the hell is sega pass and who uses it exactly ?

In case you hadn't noticed they're still a rather big publisher, and Sega Pass is their equivalent of the EA Online Register, the Rockstar Social Club, MyCrysis, Bungie's Halo stuff, the upcoming Call of Duty Elite site and all the other game registry services publishers have had for the past couple of decades. It's just a place where you register the games you've bought from them, often with a registration code bundled in the box if you bought it new, and let you sign up for the mailing list, occasionally get discounts on products, hints/cheats or stuff like that.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who makes up 100% bullshit for these online game site registrations. Sometimes I even go so far as to use a temporary e-mail address generator. I bet half of those accounts are junk.

No, Patrick. Some of the power behind the word "hacking" has been lost over the last two DECADES as people in the media - like yourself and many, many others - wrongly apply it to the abusive or even illegal activities conducted by *crackers* and script kiddies.

It does real hackers in the technology professions a huge disservice when people continue to refer to such activities as "hacking" and such people as "hackers". It'd be a bit like if we all started referring to plagiarism as "journalism" and then real journalists would be pissed, because the term had been misappropriated for devious activities which don't have anything to do with "real journalists".

Also, whether or not there are crackers out there causing mischief, you are still responsible for as much of your own security as you can control. For example, not using the same password on every website you use and not using obvious or common passwords. If you use a different complex password at every site and service, then when one is compromised, it means very little to you - as long as they haven't compromised actual *data*, like a credit card number. Which, of course, you can also have control over if your bank offers something like "Save Shop" where you can use a specific credit card number generated just for each specific service, therefore limiting the extent of any of that data being lost.

               

why is everything getting hacked now a days? :(

           

Maybe be a responsible journalist and stop giving these idiots this kind of "positive" attention and reinforcement? The only reason they do it is for this kind of "publicity" and you're playing into their little troll hands, like a Metallica comment in a Megadeth YouTube video... or vice versa.
 
Please stop reporting these things unless it's good news.

@Branthog: Hacking started out as term that meant someone was throwing some code together without any real thought to it. Also, it comes from the phrase "That guy's a total hack!" meaning he's nothing special compared to the hype surrounding him.

@Xeiphyer said:

The fact that every single company can be easily targeted and hacked with this sort of frequency really goes to show that software security needs to be updated and improved across the board. It really sucks that the end user is losing their info because of this, but nobody has reported and fraud or anything thus far right? So that could be way worse. Hopefully everyone can improve their security before real assholes decide to steal our shit =/

Exactly. It's a shame that people do shitty things, but that doesn't excuse companies with bad security practices and end-users with bad security practices. People need to take an active role in guarding their security, just like the businesses do. Nobody has the right to burglarize my home, but people would have less sympathy for me if I keep the drapes open so everyone can see a house full of expensive goodies, plus leaving my front door unlocked and literally wide open, and all the windows slid open, and no lights at night for security, and no security system, and no dog around the place to give a yelp on intrusion.

Can anyone explain the random picture of a pretty lady? Not that there's anything wrong with pictures of pretty ladies.

@Ezekeilpurger said:

I don't understand. What? Why? LulzSec, why are you guys so insane?

WE LOVE THAT CONSOLE THAT DIED 10 YEARS AGO YOU HAVE OUR SUPPORT

Can anyone explain the random picture of a pretty lady? Not that there's anything wrong with pictures of pretty ladies.

I'm sure they're far too self-righteous, just like everyone else, to actually bring some random hacker into their fold for their perspective and help in building new security.

Oh god, I forgot about that movie.

who is this lady and why is she relevant to the article?

2011 will forever be remembered as the year when society finally took Internet security seriously.

"We like these guys because they made a cool console 10 years ago"

I hate Lulsec immensely

Just call the good hackers, Deckers. Problem solved.

Crash. And Burn.

 Guys! They hacked the Genesis! 
 

Fuck this, this shits retarded as fuck.

Sigh............ 
 
It never ends this shit.

"We want to work on strengthening security." 
  
This coming from the company that can't secure their own FTP servers.

YAWN. The worst part about this whole series of affairs is that they've made hacking both totally uncool and also very boring. Booooooo.

this is seriously getting out of hand

If all hackers were clones of Angelina Jolie I'd be happy for hackers to keep doing what they do

What is going on? Why are these major companies this vulnerable?

It'd be hilarious if LulzSec found out that someone in their stupid group hacked Sega & the group just destroys itself to make the internet a slightly better place.

No, Patrick. Some of the power behind the word "hacking" has been lost over the last two DECADES as people in the media - like yourself and many, many others - wrongly apply it to the abusive or even illegal activities conducted by *crackers* and script kiddies.

It does real hackers in the technology professions a huge disservice when people continue to refer to such activities as "hacking" and such people as "hackers". It'd be a bit like if we all started referring to plagiarism as "journalism" and then real journalists would be pissed, because the term had been misappropriated for devious activities which don't have anything to do with "real journalists".

Also, whether or not there are crackers out there causing mischief, you are still responsible for as much of your own security as you can control. For example, not using the same password on every website you use and not using obvious or common passwords. If you use a different complex password at every site and service, then when one is compromised, it means very little to you - as long as they haven't compromised actual *data*, like a credit card number. Which, of course, you can also have control over if your bank offers something like "Save Shop" where you can use a specific credit card number generated just for each specific service, therefore limiting the extent of any of that data being lost.

Everyone's getting hacked!
Microsoft will announce by the end of the week they'll give jobs to those guys and keep 'em to themselves.

Didn't even know there was something called "Sega Pass".