Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) breach letter

[security curmudgeon <jericho () attrition org>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sony Online Entertainment <Sony_Online_Entertainment () soe innovyx net>
To:
Date: Tue, 3 May 2011 02:07:01 -0500
Reply-To:
Subject: Important Customer Notification

Visit the link below to view this email as a Web page:
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Sony Online Entertainment

Customer Service Notification

May 2, 2011

Dear Valued Sony Online Entertainment Customer:

Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online 
Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained 
personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you 
that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE 
account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information 
includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, 
address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, 
phone number, login name and hashed password.

Customers outside the United States should be advised that we further 
discovered evidence that information from an outdated database from 2007 
containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card 
numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and 
about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain 
customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been 
obtained -- we will be notifying each of those customers promptly.

There is no evidence that our main credit card database was compromised. 
It is in a completely separate and secured environment.

We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in 
the cyber-attacks on the company, but on May 1st we concluded that SOE 
account information may have been stolen and we are notifying you as soon 
as possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the attack and as a result, 
we have:

1. Temporarily turned off all SOE game services;
2. Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a
full and complete investigation into what happened; and
3. Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our
network infrastructure to provide you with greater protection
of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do 
whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as 
practicable.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, 
telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive 
information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, 
asking for your credit card number, social security number or other 
personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this 
information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When 
SOE's services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on 
and change your password. Additionally, if you use your Station or SOE 
game account name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we 
strongly recommend that you change them, as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we 
encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to 
monitor your credit reports. We are providing the following information 
for those who wish to consider it:

- U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report 
annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free 
credit report, visit https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp or 
call toll-free (877) 322-8228.

- We have also provided names and contact information for the three major 
U.S. credit bureaus below. At no charge, U.S. residents can have these 
credit bureaus place a "fraud alert" on your file that alerts creditors to 
take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in 
your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get 
credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to 
follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability 
to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one 
credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place 
fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, or 
should you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact 
any one of the agencies listed below.

Experian: 888-397-3742
http://www.experian.com/
P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013

Equifax:         800-525-6285
http://www.equifax.com/home/en_us
P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241

TransUnion: 800-680-7289
http://www.transunion.com/
Fraud Victim Assistance Division
P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

- You may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission 
at http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at (877) 382-4357 or 
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further information 
about how to protect yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney 
General may also have advice on preventing identity theft, and you should 
report instances of known or suspected identity theft to law enforcement, 
your State Attorney General, and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, 
the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, 
Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone (877) 566-7226; or http://www.ncdoj.gov/ 
For Maryland residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 200 St. 
Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone: (888) 743-0023; or 
http://www.oag.state.md.us/

We are committed to helping our customers protect their personal data and 
we will provide a complimentary offering to assist users in enrolling in 
identity theft protection services and/or similar programs. The 
implementation will be at a local level and further details will be made 
available shortly in regions in which such programs are commonly utilized.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this 
incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around 
the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony 
takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to 
ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally 
identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment 
services to our customers is our utmost priority. Please contact us at 
(866) 436-6698 should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
Sony Online Entertainment LLC

THIS IS A CUSTOMER SERVICE NOTIFICATION.

SOE Privacy Policy
http://www.soe.com/sonyonline/privacy.vm

SOE Terms of Service
http://www.soe.com/termsofservice.vm

http://www.soe.com/

Sony Online Entertainment LLC
8928 Terman Court - San Diego, CA 92121

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