Privacy, Playstation Network | featured news

Sony plans to start a gradual restoration of its PlayStation services Sunday as the company works to resume normal operations following a security breach that exposed personal details of 77 million users.

Sony said on Saturday it had removed off the Internet the personal details of 2,500 people that had been stolen by hackers and posted on a website.

Sony has taken its SOE multiplayer system offline as part of the ongoing investigation into the PlayStation Network hack.

Sony's No. 2 exec, Kazuo Hirai, will brief media on Sunday about a huge security breach of its PlayStation Network, the first time an executive of the Japanese electronics giant will publicly address the case, which could prompt global legal actions.

The attack also has crippled Sony's PlayStation Network, which has some 70 million subscribers and has been down since April 20... The hacker could have taken credit card numbers, card expiration dates, billing addresses, answers to security questions and purchase history, but not credit-card security codes...

The company said an “unauthorized person” had obtained personal information about its account-holders, possibly including their credit card numbers.