Following the closure of Sony Online Entertainment’s network operations earlier today, the company has now confirmed that only a small percentage of credit card details – possibly seized by hackers during the recent security breach – could be used for fraudulent purposes.
Earlier today, PSU reported that Sony Online Entertainment had shut down its game servers after confirming that 24 million accounts had been compromised. The main fear from users of the service was that stolen data from credit cards linked to the accounts had landed in the hands of hackers. A later report stated that 12,700 customers’ credit card numbers may have been stolen, alongside personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts. SOE has now revealed, via GamesIndustry.biz, that only “900” of the credit cards on record were still active when stolen.
SOE had confirmed only last week, during the downtime of the PlayStation Network, that its network services were not affected. Today, however, it made a u-turn stating that: "in the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately." There’s no current indication as to when SOE’s online service will resume. Meanwhile, Sony Computer Entertainment America claims the PlayStation Network will return later this week.