As of the time of this writing, Sony has announced that 10 million of its subscribers may have had their account information and credit card numbers stolen. The total impact of the breach effects 77 million.
If you have an account on the PlayStation network, we at IT360 recommend you take the following steps:
- First, call your bank and have a new card reissued. You can never be too safe and this is the first action you should take.
- Don’t use debit cards for online transactions. That money comes directly out of your checking account. If your card number is stolen and your bank doesn’t catch it as fraudulent, you are out that money until you can go through the process of getting it back. With a credit card you are just fighting the bill at the end of the month and not out any immediate cash.
- Place a “fraud alert” on your file with the credit bureau.
- Change your passwords. Not only on the PlayStation network site, but ALL sites. Don’t use the same password for every website you go to. The PlayStation network breach is a good example of why. Each site you use should have its own password. Now they have the password you used at Sony. If you used that password for your bank account, you may be in for more problems.
- It also looks like secret questions/answers have also been compromised. You will need to change these on the other sites you go to. What was your favorite pet’s name? It shouldn’t be Spot any more.
Sony has posted information about what you can do on their website: http://us.playstation.com/support/answer/index.htm?a_id=2185
If your company accepts credit cards, know the risks. PCI/DSS compliance can be a daunting task. IT360 has helped many companies work through the process to secure their customers information. Contact us if you would like to find out how.
