Following the yesterday news about Sony appearing to Congress, the company responded to the questions that they have and stated that Anonymous is responsible for the attack.
As the PlayStation Network servers enters its 14th day of being down, the investigation still continues and no word as to when the servers will be back online. SCEA’s Kaz Hirai proposed to the congress the future resolution that they will have to take in order to prevent another security breach. A document to his response can be read here.
Below is the summary to what happened this morning between Sony and the Congress.
In summary, we told the subcommittee that in dealing with this cyber attack we followed four key principles:
Act with care and caution.
Provide relevant information to the public when it has been verified.
Take responsibility for our obligations to our customers.
Work with law enforcement authorities.We also informed the subcommittee of the following:
Sony has been the victim of a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber attack.
We discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of our Sony Online Entertainment servers named “Anonymous” with the words “We are Legion.”
By April 25, forensic teams were able to confirm the scope of the personal data they believed had been taken, and could not rule out whether credit card information had been accessed. On April 26, we notified customers of those facts.
As of today, the major credit card companies have not reported any fraudulent transactions that they believe are the direct result of this cyber attack.
Protecting individuals’ personal data is the highestpriority and ensuring that the Internet can be made secure for commerce is also essential. Worldwide, countries and businesses will have to come together to ensure the safety of commerce over the Internet and find ways to combat cybercrime and cyber terrorism.
We are taking a number of steps to prevent future breaches, including enhanced levels of data protection and encryption; enhanced ability to detect software intrusions, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns; additional firewalls; establishment of a new data center in an undisclosed location with increased security; and the naming of a new Chief Information Security Officer.We told the subcommittee about our intent to offer complimentary identity theft protection to U.S. account holders and detailed the “Welcome Back” program that includes free downloads, 30 days of free membership in the
PlayStation Plus premium subscription service; 30 days of free service for Music Unlimited subscribers; and extending PlayStation Plus and Music Unlimited subscriptions for the number of days services were unavailable.We are working around the clock to have some PlayStation Network services restored and we’ll be providing specific details shortly. We hope this update is helpful to you, and we will continue to keep you posted as we work to restore our network and provide you with both the entertainment and the security you deserve.
