Congress Has Questions for Sony About Attack

The United States government has demanded answers from the Executive Deputy President of Sony, Kaz Hirai, which has been uncovered via a leaked letter to the Sony executive.

[toxic27]

Kaz, you deserve this for being so silent

[SpaceSquirrel]

I hope he can reassure the 50 plus million PSN users

[sdtarm]

Are you dumb?

I meant it to toxic js

[JackBNimble]

I think Sony has their their ass covered, they imediately brought in a third party.
(sonys words)
"then brought in outside experts to help us learn how the intrusion occurred and to conduct an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the incident. It was necessary to conduct several days of forensic analysis,"

I believe how Sony handled the whole situation was the only way that it could have been handled.

When Sony new what was going on they told us. Why would Sony postpone telling us the truth when they new they had "NO CHOICE" anyway?

The F.B.I can brief Congress
I doubt sonys actions will be percieved as negligent in the end, and authorites will realise it very soon.

[ComboBreaker]

The only branch Sony answer have to answer to is the Court (and other regulartory agency).

[WhittO]

Everyone is going on about how Sony hasn't told us ANYTHING, well, have they not been reading anything on here the past week?

What are Sony supposed to do to make these people happy, lie to them, say everything is fine and will be up in a week and not to worry at all??

Or actually warn people there MAY be credit card problems, they are looking into it and have alot of people helping them do so and to be cautious in the mean time, saying they are doing their best and will update as soon as THEY actually know something.

These things take time and the fact they are re-building PSN within a week or 2?? TBH I'm surprised it's even getting done that quick!

[Imalwaysright]

@ WhittO Sony should have told us from the get go, wich they didnt, that our info was compromissed. No matter if they werent sure if our cc information was compromissed or not we should have the RIGHT to act upon it immediatly because this is no kids play, its our hard earned money we're talking about. Imagine if our money was indeed stolen because Sony didnt told us right away that our cc information was stolen, then what? Wouldnt you be blaming Sony? It took them a week to warn us and to me they were either utterly incompetent or negligent.

[AtomicGerbil]

@Imalwaysright

Just like XBL, Paypal, Visa, Mastercard, Amazon, Play etc. do everytime they get hacked? Oh wait...

I know you don't hear much from anybody else getting hacked like this, but that's my point, how much are we actually told.

[Trebius]

This is a list of companies that compromised peoples personal information in APRIL ALONE through hackers and other reasons out of their control.

• TiVo
• US Bank
• Capital One
• Home Sopping Network (HSN)(added 4/3 @10:22am)
• Ameriprise Financial
• LL Bean Visa Card
• Lacoste
• AbeBooks
• Hilton Honors Program
• Dillons
• Fred Meyer
• Beachbody (Makers of TRX)
• TD Ameritrade
• Ethan Allen
• Eileen Fisher
• MoneyGram
• TIAA-CREF
• Verizon
• Marks & Spencer (UK)
• City Market§ Target
§ Tiger Direct
§ Best Buy
§ Capital One
§ JP Morgan Chase & Co.
§ Kroger
§ US Bank
§ Citi
§ McKinsey & Company
§ Ritz-Carlton Rewards
§ Marriott Rewards
§ New York & Company
§ Brookstone
§ The College Board
§ Home Shopping Network (HSN)
§ LL Bean
§ Disney Destinations
§ Barclays Bank of Delaware
§ Air Miles
§ Red Roof Inn
§ Hilton Honors
§ Beachbody
§ 1-800-Flowers
§ The Home Depot
§ New York & Company
§ Bebe
§ Wal-Mart
§ The Ohio Department of Natural Resources
§ McKinsey & Company
§ Walgreens (Again!)
§ The College Board (added 4/3 @8:20am)
§ Disney Destinations
§ Best Buy
§ Robert Half
§ Target
§ QFC
§ bebe Stores
§ Ralphs
§ Fry's
§ 1-800-Flowers
§ Red Roof Inn
§ King Soopers
§ Eddie Bauer
§ Scottrade
§ Dell Australia
§ Jay C
§ The Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Didnt see THESE get blown out of proportion or even get MENTIONED on any news outlets.

[Washington-Capitals]

Wait how are people mindlessly agree with you? Where is your source? How can you just post a list like that? Give me the link, i want to read for myself.

[HSx9]

I find it really funny how SONY fanboys on this site claim that this document is fake when it is being hosted by a legitimation source.
And the idiots saying this is an FBI letter... then you are an idiot, the FBI is a security organization not the Congress.

[Biggest]

A security organization. . . Run by congress!

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us...

As an American I know full well that Congress has no gotdamned clue what they are doing most of the time. Any group that panders to birthers, calls people "senior killers" for cutting Medicare funds and then proceeds to attempt cutting Medicare funds, and protects the wealthy (Did you know that the 4 wealthiest Americans have more worth than the 200 million least wealthy in the country combined?) can kiss my ass. Please stop representing my country.

[HSx9]

@Biggest
I do not represent your corrupt country and people like you make me thankful for that.
The FBI is supported by congress but when congress sends a letter they don't randomly have an FBI Seal on it, that would have to be an FBI Letter, Congress supports many groups, you don't see all their stamps on a letter congress makes. Stop acting so patriotic, I could careless, and others don't care how cool you are either.

[Biggest]

I wasn't talking to you, smart guy. I am speaking of the congressman. I'm not sure where you got all the other junk you said, but I am glad that you think I am cool while not caring about it.

[Joni-Ice]

Fake...Any FBI document requesting information about something so important as this PSN case will have a FBI seal on the document. Where is the seal?

[SilverSlug]

The problem with the leak is, 95% of the negative information has turned out to be false. I think the misinformation is hurting Sony more than the hack is.

[lazertroy]

Exactlly

[ugabugaz]

It's not an FBI document. Plus the PDF is being hosted by the NY Times. Doubt it's fake.
http://graphics8.nytimes.co...
See the url there? NYTimes

[zeal0us]

lol g.k butterfield that our republican representative in north carolina, that guy doesn't look like care about psn

documents like this wouldn't get easily leak plus wouldn't it be address to the Sony's american head/leader or something and not the person who is most likely in japan.

even if this is real from the looks of the document, it don't look like he(kaz hirai) is being corned just a simple check up from the looks of it.

[Joni-Ice]

The signatures almost looks the same.

[fedexas]

Yep. This situation is really getting out of hand now. Fake articles, fake documents being produced...it's unbelievable.

[HolyOrangeCows]

@SilverSlug

What did you expect? With the insane amount of negative press even when the PS3 was crapping out diamonds of games; this "FUD Field Day" hasn't surprised me in the slightest.

Like you said, almost nothing said has been true. CC info leaked unencrypted? False. Profiles/trophies being deleted? Busted. Passwords leaked? Fake. PS+ cloud data gone? Nope. PSN caused the tsunami in Japan and tornadoes in US? Well, that one hasn't been made YET....

[shoddy]

the police is reponsible to catch the hackers.

now my question to Congress is how and when are they gonna get this cyber criminals?

[Ding]

Personally, if I were an American, I'd be more worried about congress's security, when their communications can be so easily leaked.

Physician, heal thyself! ;)

Not that I believe this rubbish is real anyway.

[iamnsuperman]

Warning....This title is sooooo not what the articles is about.

[toxic27]

That's why it's a rumor buddy

[Joni-Ice]

You cant have a fake document and call it a rumor. It not a rumor anymore. Its just fake.

[Mr Patriot]

And you got pawnd by Joni ice buddy ..

[rabidpancakeburglar]

Have they not already got all the answers they need? Sony was breached by a hacker(s) and they shut down the service because of the risk to users information. They revealed that credit card details could have been accessed but they were encrypted so it was unlikely.
Maybe they are reading this and can see that they already have answers

[Legion]

The previous reports state that the files were NOT encrypted.

[n4gisatroll]

Well...I don't see why Sony would lie about the cc info being encrypted. Personal info such as your address isn't encrypted though.

[Legion]

Lets see... they lied about PSN users needing to use CCV code during purchases. They lied about not knowing why the PSN was down in the first place.(they took it down themselves)

They stated the CC table was encrypted not the data itself. And yet they stated that the card numbers and experation dates might have been compromised but not the CCV security codes. If the table was the sole source of storage for the CC info and it was encrypted then no need to think that the CC info might be specifically stolen in such a specific way. Thus the conclusion that though the CC table was encrypted... data with CC number and experation dates was still possibly compromised elseware.

[Bigpappy]

There are the same 2 issues we have been concerned about: Time lapse between discovery and disclosure; Credit info still a problem.

@ above: May be the fanboy explination is not good enough for LAW makers.

[rabidpancakeburglar]

Please elaborate. I think you'll find that what I have written is what sony have said about the situation and not the 'fanboy' explanation

[blackburn10]

Still trying hard to troll I see.Credit info is not still a problem. No one can use the encrypted data and banks have said there is evidence of any illegal withdrawals. Your beating a dead horse at this point

[fedexas]

Desperation will get you nowhere so give it up.

[gamingdroid]

I think Congress wants a little more information than "your credit card information was encrypted and may have been compromised. Everything else was not encrypted and was taken!".

It is good that government keeps companies in check regardless of if they mismanaged or not.

[n4gisatroll]

I honestly don't understand how the US government is in this unless the hackers are in the US, in that case they better find these guys and get them in jail..

[gamingdroid]

I believe that is the FBI's job and Sony cooperating.

[disturbing_flame]

Weird this letter has no official seal from the US gov on it.

[eggbert]

implying they'd actually leak a letter.

[disturbing_flame]

I have no doubt of the actual authenticity of the procedure. Don't misunderstand me.

I just think that there are some part missing.

[ugabugaz]

I trust the NY Times not to host fake information. Would be rather embarrassing. PDF is hosted at NYTimes.
http://graphics8.nytimes.co...

Edit: The document is in the original story, but sure.
Edit: Added both the Articles and just the PDF

[disturbing_flame]

thanks that's better.
feel free to add this document in the alternative links/source.

[radphil]

"I trust the NY Times not to host fake information."

The irony of that is in a paragraph later on in the blog:

"Although Sony says it doesn’t have evidence that customers’ credit card numbers were stolen, on Thursday I reported that hackers on underground Web forums had claimed to have access to a database that included PlayStation customer names, addresses, usernames, passwords and as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers."

The "Thursday I reported" link shows him seeing it from a forum. >_>

[TheMutator]

you want sony...TAKE SONY LOL LOL LOL

[younglj01]

Lol now to tha person that loved to correct my grammar hope you do tha same to this so called letter.Lol tha Government worker didnt finish high school. ;)

[lazertroy]

This story is Fake

[MrBeatdown]

If that's legit, I hope the irony isn't lost on them.

[coryok]

looks fake

[ugabugaz]

Probably not fake. See my responses above

[MysticStrummer]

Even if it's real, it's a waste of time considering the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are already involved in the investigation, supposedly.

[KeiserSosay4788]

Even though it's really not sony's fault, I AM glad that someone who HAS to be answered is asking the RIGHT questions...if this is real.

[soundslike]

signatures look amateur. The t's on the second signature look like the person was thinking carefully about making them right and messed up.

Of course when you sign something over and over there's no thinking involved unless you have very shaky hands or arthritis lol

[ugabugaz]

They are congressmen, they're old. Arthritis is highly probable. Anything is possible though, lol ;)

[Darkspade]

Sony is in big trouble..

Hackers Log showed he first went in March 03

Sony did nothing, now 77 million User Theft later

Holy Crap!!!

[Legion]

77 million accounts maybe... it has already been pointed out that the number of accounts versus number of users is likely not equal. More closely to less then half that number would be the users total.

[Tuxedo_Mask]

I wouldn't put it past the US government, they tend to focus on everything except what they should be focusing on.

[kingofps3]

wat??? how come the submission changed automatically?? it had a different source and title mentioning "leaked" before.

[SuperSonic199012]

Man, Sony keeps getting deeper and deeper into a pile of shit.

[Masterchef2007]

People hate on Sonys console because they envy them. Envy them in the sense that they want their console maker to take some of the desicions that sony is making. To further elaborate on that point one good example is the ammount of AAA exclusives comming out this year for Sonys console. Plus the fact that Multiplayer is free on the PS3 is a huge plus as well.

Sony choose to pick a fight with the hackers with the geohots case so they struck back by taking down PSN. Sony merely took down PSN to tighten security in it. What people refuse to accept is that what the hackers did with the PS3 they could do it to any network. Including a closed system like XBOXlive which has been hacked in the past but not on a massive scale. As long as Microsoft leaves the hackers alone XBOXlive will be safe.

[marshaal5]

this is really starting to look like there is and element of "SONY BASHING" creeping into this now every story gets allowed. anyone would think they were the first company that has had this problem. It has happened many times before and will happen again. in the digital age we live in where you can do almost anything online thsi is going to happen.
time to move on now.

[Gamerfans]

the media loves to hate on Sony.

[fedexas]

They sure do.

[Mikeyy]

Weather the documents are fake or not, everybody wants the Hackers to being hung by the noose.

Congress scolding Sony does NOTHING to make me feel better.

A public execution on Live TV of one of the hackers responsible will work wonders with getting society in line.

[earbus]

So its still down is it wow very poor service to its ultra dedicated fan base just a shame to see a company not give people real notice or keep them up to date the company has said hardly anything.

[Silly gameAr]

I rock the PS3 and proud of it. Deal.

[Thoreau]

why does the victims get questioned instead of the assailants?

[MRHARDON]

Cause the "victims" are the ones who have our personal information and let it somehow get taken....

So I would question Sony if I was Congress.

[Thoreau]

sony was not the perpetraitor, one should not rely on one sole protection scheme. Bring the hackers to justice first and then we can start to point fingers.

mr hardon, if i was congress i would like to let the facts gather first. you do know that all these congressional hearings must be paid for, by the tax payer.

[Les-Grossman]

Be ready for an XBOX Live type of subscription on the PS4 guys

[tehnoob3]

sony isn't dumb. They make millions a year from software sales on psn, and it proves to be a major selling point on ps3.

[Darkspade]

I believe and said it before sony will be adding a subscription Plan. Sony makes good money off the PSN sells but they don't make those games. they only get a small chuck.. they are saying this could cost sony $24 billion when it's said and done. And if you think sony's not looking for a way to get some of that money plus a little more in case this happens again, you must be blind to the Real World.. and you have sad days ahead

[mummra08]

so whats the problem if its true the questions need asking why did Sony take so long to inform psn users that there credit card info was possibly hacked. and with there network being down still it goes to show Sony is not doing a gd job. how long dus the network have to be down before psn users start saying this is wrong. ok i don't hide the fact i don't like psn but at the end of the day the only people this is hurting is the psn fan base. now before every one disagrees with my comment ask your self this 1 question don't you think as psn users or Sony fans what ever that you deserve better the way Sony has treated its users is unexcitable so stand up for your self psn is not free you have to buy a ps3 to have it the way you have
been treated is unexcitable. as ps3 customers you deserve answers

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Am I the only one that finds it odd that a company running a massive database of 77 million accounts with credit card info had to hire a outside agency to figure out what was going on in their own system?

[ME1989]

Lol, how do people rate this "doubtful"?

[ballsofsteel]

why the hell does the committee on energy and commerce care about this? if this was homeland security or the FBI I could understand but these guys?

[clrlite]

Corporations don't answer to congress, congress answers to corporations. Heh heh, I kid I kid.

I forgive you Sony.

[TBONEJF]

This letter is fake.Thiers no govt seal n why would congress address Kaz for? They have enough problems already which they Need to work on creating jobs than question SONY PSN bout being offlline n question bout stolen credit cards. Plus i dont see a signature from any official. Just have to be DUMB ASS fanboy.

[Enigma_2099]

Hey congress... how about that budget problem... fixed that yet?