PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
Sony executives offered a personal apology for the massive PlayStation Network data breach, admitting that up to 10 million credit cards may have been stolen.
Sony boss Kaz Hirai made an appearance at a press conference in Japan, offering the firm’s ‘sincerest apologies’. The firm is also taking the unprecedented move of providing credit card protection services for the 10 million affected customers.
The firm had earlier said that the credit card information was encrypted and that there was "no evidence" that they had been stolen although it would not rule it out. The press conference clarified by saying the credit card numbers were not encrypted but were ‘hashed’ instead.
Hashing can be extremely secure depending on the method used but hackers on underground forums have claimed that the stolen credit cards are now for sale regardless.
Sony is also set to offer customers 30 days of access to the firm’s Qriocity music service and PlayStation Plus premium online gaming service. Whether or not customers will be keen to hand over their credit card numbers again remains to be seen.
The firm also announced the creation of a new security boss to oversee the protection of customer data.
