Another Sony Hack Attempted, PSN Accounts Compromised

It seems like only yesterday that the news was aflutter with the story of the Great PSN Hacking of 2011. That hacking resulted in the PlayStation network being down for a month, but you know the story. Sony fixed their security, PSN came back online, we got some free games.

Well it seems the attempt to hack Sony was made again.

Philip Reitinger, who has been hired as Sony's Chief Information Security Officer went to the Playstation Blog last night to disseminate the news.

"We want to let you know that we have detected attempts on Sony Entertainment Network, PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment ('Networks') services to test a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database," he wrote. "These attempts appear to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or other sources."

Meaning that this was a common list, probably stolen from another place and those names were used en masse against the PSN, hoping that some would work out.  According to Reitinger most didn't, but some did, and those accounts have been locked to keep trespassers from getting their dirty little hands on any more information.  People who found themselves on the 'matches' list during the attempt  will also be required to change their username and password. But, I'm sure you did that already just by looking at the title of this post.

Reitinger reiterated, "As a preventative measure, we are requiring secure password resets for those PSN/SEN accounts that had both a sign-in ID and password match through this attempt. If you are in the small group of PSN/SEN users who may have been affected, you will receive an email from us at the address associated with your account that will prompt you to reset your password."

Sony is stating that any credit card information you have connected to your account is not at risk. Take that as you will, but to be sure, many peope are most probably still feeling awfully burned from the last PSN hacking experience.

So if you sign into the PSN today and find that your account has been locked, now you know why. Check your email for information from Sony on how refresh your password and get back online.

Good luck.