Sony attacked again, 12,700 non-US CC numbers feared stolen

The hits just keep on coming when it comes to Sony's online services. We've been promised that the PlayStation Network will be back online very soon, but now Sony Online Entertainment has taken its services offline. This is the company that brought us DC Universe Online, the for-pay superhero MMO.

Here's what Sony has announced so far:

Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.

In a twist, the company has also announced a number of older credit card numbers and expiration dates from an older, 2007 database may have been compromised. "...12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained—we will be notifying each of those customers promptly," Sony explained.

The services have been taken offline, the security is being strengthened, and an outside, "recognized" security firm has been called in.

This could be a much larger problem than the PSN hack, with for-pay games being taken offline, and older credit card data being potentially stolen. We'll be following this story as it develops.

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