PSN Debacle - Credit Card information up for sale

PSN Debacle - Credit Card information up for sale

Up until now, it was never clear if any information had actually fallen in to hacker's hand. Sure, there had been a breach, but the information had been encrypted. That has all changed now as the hackers that have committed the crime are now offering them on underground hacker forums.

Possible test runs of this information have already been reported in Australia and Germany, as two individuals noticed charges in the thousands of dollars area on their credit cards. 

Kevin Stevens, a security analyst with Trend Micro, had this to tweet:

"The hackers that hacked PSN are selling off the DB. They reportedly have 2.2 million credits cards with CVVs"

This basically means that the hackers could pretty much have taken ... well, everything. From full names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, passwords, dates of birth, credit card numbers, CVV2s ["card verification values," the three-digit security code used to confirm the validity of the card in transactions where the card isn't present] to expiration dates. However, as it stands, Stevens hasn't seen the database for himself and thus can not be certain if all of this has any merit to it.  

Amongst the speculations are claims by the hackers themselves that state they had offered Sony the chance to buy back the information, but that they refused to do so. Sony's Patrick Seybold denied this and said that Sony hasn't been offered any such deal. 

"To my knowledge there is no truth to the report that Sony was offered an opportunity to purchase the list." 

No matter what the outcome of this may be, the mere fact that all of that information is exposed, should be a big enough warning sign to every social networking service like PSN to tighten their security. And to the consumers themselves to be extra careful with their digits.

Source:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109661-Hackers-Offer-PSN-Credit-Cards-For-Sale