Sony PlayStation Hack Puts 77 Million at Risk

Identity Theft

Help your users understand what to do if their personal information has been compromised.

The Economic Times reports that 77 million people are at risk after a hacker stole the names, dates of birth and credit card numbers of people who play online games through the Sony PlayStation console. The "illegal and unauthorized intrusion" took place between April 17 and 19. Sony is warning users that hackers may have accessed their billing addresses and account information. The PlayStation Network has been shut down, and there is no word about when it will be online again.

Identity theft is, of course, the main concern. However, there are other threats, like phishing, that could come out of the breach, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sony reminds users:

Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security, tax identification or similar number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, says changing their passwords is the most important thing users should do now:

Some 40 percent of users we talk to use the same password on every site. If your password has been compromised you need to change it -- and that means on every site you use.