A new threat that caused Sony to shut down its online gaming division services was not a separate attack.
That’s what Sony is saying as a means of clarification after it said yesterday that all Sony Online Entertainment accounts were being taken temporarily offline.
The company said it realize more than 24 million SOE accounts were compromised, and tens of thousands of personal banking and credit card data may have been obtained.
This of course comes after Sony has shut down its Playstation Network services on PS3 and PSP due to a high-scale security breach and hack of the company’s most securely guarded online databases.
Sony’s wording on the SOE news was a little vague at first, leading some to wonder if it was directly related to the intrusion that triggered the PSN shutdown, or a separate attack entirely.
However, the Wall Street Journal quoted Sony as saying, “We temporarily took down [Sony Online Entertainment’s] services as part of our continued investigation into the external intrusion that occurred in April. This is not a second attack.”
The SOE data appeared to have been an old file from 2007, meaning much of the personal information contained therein is likely to be outdated by now.
Nevertheless, it’s another punch in the face to the growing black eye Sony already has. It said it planned to start roling back service to the Playstation Network soon, but that has not happened yet.
