Ever wanted to buy some credit card numbers? Actually, you may now have a chance. If you’re into video games, you might have heard that Sony’s PSN was hacked and personal data of 77 millions customers was stolen.

As for now, we knew that hackers got logins, passwords, addresses, birth dates and so on. It was unknown whether they also got credit card numbers, transaction history etc. But now it seems that 2.2 million credit card numbers (including their CVV2!) are for sale!

Are the credit cards numbers really for sale?

There’s actually no official statement about it. Patrick Seybold, Sony’s senior director of corporate communications says that “The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken”. Sony admits only that personal data was unencrypted.

On the other hand, PSX-Scene users found a database for sale, which contains names, addresses, phone numbers and credit card numbers with CVV2. We’re not going to link directly, but if you search well enough, you shouldn’t have any problems finding the offer.

Also some IT security authorities, like Dan Kaminsky and Kevin Stevens from Trend Micro confirmed that the credit card numbers are for sale and the price begins with 100 000 dollars. Having in mind the database size – that’s relatively cheap. There are also rumors that Sony was offered to buy the database, but refused.

And of course credit card numbers are one thing, but combined with CVVs and personal data are much more easier and probable to be used. What’s more, there are already first signals from Sony’s clients – some of them claim they noticed unauthorized transactions made with the stolen credit card data. Sony advices its clients to contact their banks…

Sorry Sony

The Playstation Network is still down and nobody knows when it’s going to be back online. It is only known that rebuilding of the server infrastructure has begun and the whole network infrastructure is going to be moved to a “more secure” data center.

Sony also started to send some apologies, which didn’t work out very well. It is said that the letters for non-English clients were translated by automatic translators. Many people also point out Sony’s lack of information. A quick poll in the USA showed that at least 25% of Sony’s customers are considering switching to Xbox.

These are surely hard times for Sony. Apart from the leak itself, there are more and more voices about poor customer service and communication. Wishing Sony all the best, we’ll be observing them with curiosity. It’s a huge thing and getting out relatively unharmed would be a “success”.

Dawid

Dawid doesn't really look like a regular programmer should. He's always smiling and eating candy, no matter whether he's coding hard, designing or supporting. One thing is for sure - if he's not by his desk, he's in the kitchen ;) But after work Dawid is sometimes a bit concious stricken, so it's quite easy to meet him jogging in the local park.