<i>Sony has repeatedly stated that its PSN servers and SOE servers are not part of the same network, so it remains unclear just how these two attacks are tied together</i><p>then Sony says:<p><i>"While the two systems are distinct and operated separately, given that they are both under the SONY umbrella, there is some degree of architecture that overlaps."</i><p>This my friends is back-peddling 101. Also known as "Sony can't give a straight answer on whether their PSN and SOE networks are connected or not"
The scary part here is that this intrusion was only found because of a security review due to the PSN intrusion. If that hadn't of happened, who knows when/if they would have figured it out.<p>How often does this type of thing happen and no one has ANY idea?
i never understand why we all so easily trust creditcards. i also do it.<p>a system that basically needs an attacker to just see'n'remember both sides of your card (that you need to keep with you and not is safe) in order be able pay with your money until the card gets disabled or expires.<p>i noticed in the US people use it to pay by phone, and shops tend to keep that data for convenient repeat purchases.<p>i need a card for payments online and visits outside europe (especially visits to the US). i'm glad that i have one for those occasions, but i cannot say i think it is a safe system -- it is also constantly under attack.<p>in the netherlands there's a payment system that most-if-not-all webshops are subscribing to. it redirect you from the shop to the internet banking app of your own bank, there you pay (with some 2-factor kind of authentication), after which you're redirected back. i cannot help feeling a lot safer. :)
What's happened here is that Sony has discovered a previously undetected attack that occurred in April. So this second attack is not as new as one might think.
> 12,700 non-US credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates [...] apparently from "an outdated database from 2007"<p>Fortunately that means ~100% of those numbers are expired by now. Can expired numbers be used for anything evil?
Sony has just never got the hang of digital. They used to have great radios, TVs, and decent audio equipment. You young'uns probably don't remember the Walkman but it was revolutionary. It was a highly portable cassette player, basically the ipod of its day. It's been downhill for Sony since then. To wit:<p>- Minidisc
- Memory stick
- The 2005 audio CDs with bonus rootkit
- PSN breach
- SOE breach
Update, 9:03PM EST: "This is NOT a second attack; new information has been discovered as part of our ongoing investigation of the external intrusion in April."