Steam Credit Card Data Compromised

Valve’s download service Steam has been hacked, and security experts suspect that as a result, credit card data could be stolen. The company admitted that the intruders managed to hack a Steam database, which contains a lot of sensitive information, including user names, hashed and salted passwords, as well as information about the members’ game purchases, email addresses, and even encrypted credit card data.

However, there is still no precise evidence that could suggest that encrypted credit card numbers, as well as personally identifying data, were stolen by the intruders. They also can’t prove that the protection on the credit card numbers or passwords was broken. Still, everything may be revealed later, because the investigation is only in its early days.

The company’s statement read that Steam forums had been defaced on the 6th of November. Valve started to investigate the issue immediately after it figured out that the intrusion went beyond the forums. The company warned that punters are supposed to closely watch their credit card activity along with statements in order to make sure that the intruders haven’t found their way to use the data. Valve announced that there were not many forum accounts hacked. However, the company decided to ensure that all its members are protected, so all forum users will now need to change their passwords after they log in to the forums next time.

Thus far there haven’t been compromised Steam accounts revealed. This is supposed to mean that Valve wasn’t going to force a change of Steam account passwords as well. This is because those are different from forum passwords.

Sony PSN Hacked Again; 100-M Users' Info Stolen

NEW YORK — Sony Corp has been hacked again, exposing more security issues for the company less than a month after intruders stole personal information from more than 100 million online user accounts.

A hacked page on a Sony website in Thailand directed users to a fake site posing as an Italian credit card company. The site was designed to steal information from customers, Internet security firm F-Secure disclosed on Friday.

It is the latest in a series of security headaches for Sony, which discovered in April hackers had broken into its PlayStation Network and stole data from more than 77 million accounts. On May 2, Sony disclosed hackers had also stolen data from about 25 million user accounts of the Sony Online Entertainment website, a PC-based games service.

The PlayStation attack, considered the biggest in Internet history, prompted the Japanese electronics giant to shut down its PlayStation Network and other services for close to a month.

"It's a Sony security issue," said Jennifer Kutz, a representative for F-Secure, referring to the fraudulent website.

The latest hacking, which the security company said occurred separately from the April attack, was reported just hours after Sony told customers of another breach on one of its units.

So-Net, the Internet service provider unit of Sony, alerted customers on Thursday that an intruder had broken into its system and stolen virtual points worth $1,225 from account holders.

Critics have slammed the company for not protecting its networks securely and then waiting up to a week before telling its customers of the attack and the possible theft of credit card information, prompting lawmakers and state attorneys general to launch investigations.

Security experts said they were not surprised that the electronics company has not yet fixed weaknesses in its massive global network. Earlier this week, Sony shut down one of its websites set up to help millions of users change their passwords after finding a security flaw.

"Sony is going through a pretty rigorous process and finding the holes to fill," said Josh Shaul, chief technology officer for computer security firm Application Security Inc.

"The hackers are going through the same process and they're putting their fingers in the holes faster than Sony can fill them."

"What we've done is stopped the So-Net points exchanges and told customers to change their passwords," So-Net said in a statement in Japanese to consumers.

About 100,000 yen ($1,225) was stolen from accounts that were attacked. The company said there was no evidence other accounts in the online system had been compromised.

"At this point in our investigations, we have not confirmed any data leakage. We have not found any sign of a possibility that a third party has obtained members' names, address, birth dates and phone numbers."

Security experts have told Reuters Sony's networks around the world remain vulnerable to attack.

Sony's string of security problems could be attracting more hackers to attack its networks.

"I think it's now 'I'm a hacker and I'm bored, let's go after Sony,'" Shaul said.

A Sony representative in the United States could not immediately be reached for comment.