77 million users’ credit card data possibly stolen through Sony video game breach

PanARMENIAN.Net - Sony Corp suffered a huge breach in its video game online network that allowed the theft of names, addresses and possibly credit card data belonging to 77 million user accounts, in one of the largest Internet security break-ins ever.

According to Reuters, Sony said it learned of the breach in its popular PlayStation Network on April 19, prompting it to shut down the network immediately. Sony did not tell the public about the stolen data until Tuesday, April 26, hours after it unveiled its first tablet computers in Japan.

Executives at the tablet launch in Tokyo made no mention of the network crisis when the glossy devices were unveiled, nor at a later briefing with journalists. The tablets, which come in two sizes, will be the first to enable the use of PlayStation games and mark Sony's ambitious drive to compete with Apple's year-old iPad.

An "illegal and unauthorized person" obtained names, addresses, email addresses, birth dates, user names, passwords, logins, security questions and more, Sony said on its U.S. PlayStation blog.

A Sony spokesman said it took "several days of forensic investigation" after learning of the breach before the company knew consumers' data had been compromised.