News: Updates on PSN Shutdown - PSN User Info May Have Been Compromised

Tons of information regarding the PSN service outage were released yesterday, including the possibility that your personal account information may also have. If you're having a headache not being able to connect to the network, this is now a bigger headache for Sony, and millions of its PSN users. If you're one of the many concerned regarding this security alert, here's a rundown of the updates so far, and some tips on what you can do:

• In the April 26 update (Apr. 27 in the Philippines), Patrick Seybold reiterates earlier announcements that the PSN and Qriocity services was compromised due to to an external intrusion, and also confirms that certain user account information may have been compromised in connection to the above intrusion.
• Although they were still investigating the incident at the time of the announcement, Sony believes that user credit card data may have also been obtained. No evidence supports this yet, but Sony is not ruling out the said possibility.
• Sony advises its users to remain vigilant and review their credit statements to avoid fraud and identity theft. Sony also advises users to contact US Credit Bureaus for a free credit report. 
• Contact details of the credit bureaus were provided by Sony to help users place a "fraud alert".
• According to the same announcement, some of the services will be back online within a week. Counting from date of announcement, expect it to be back online before May 3 (May 4 in the Philippines).
• US Senator for Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal wrote SCEA CEO Jack Tretton, demanding answers as to why Sony failed to provide clear information as to whether users' personal info was compromised, and as to how Sony intends to protect their consumers from the security breach. You can read the letter here.
• On a later April 26 post, Patrick Seybold clarifies the reason as to why this information was released only 5 days after the shutdown. Seybold explains it took several days of forensic analysis of outside experts to understand the scope of the intrusion, resulting to the release of the info only on Apr. 26.
• Sony released an FAQ providing more info regarding the outage through the same announcement. You can view the FAQ here.
• On an April 27 post, Sony issues another set of FAQ's clarifying some of the inquiries of users. To sum up, Sony confirms that they are now working with law enforcement and a recognized technology security firm to address the situation, and to determine the culprits. Sony confirms that personal info was not encrypted in their systems, but credit card info was encrypted. The FAQ also included steps on how to protect your credit card info that was used in PSN. 
• According to the same FAQ, a system update will be released, and upon accessing PSN, users will be required to change the password.

With these in mind, here are some that we can do to protect ourselves from the situation:

• If you're outside the US, and you have provided your credit card info to PSN, immediately review your credit card account and contact and alert your credit card provider regarding the security breach.
• Immediately change the password of your accounts that use your email address to log in. It's possible that you're using the same password for several accounts which use your email address to log-in, so update those.
• Once PSN is back online, immediately change your password and security question. 

I hope Sony can fix the issue as soon as possible. Not that I'm itching to go online, I'm more concerned on the impact of this situation to the millions of PSN users, and how it may cause a decline in the number of PSN users.

If you have any more tips on how to protect yourself in such a situation or if you want to share your thoughts regarding this issue, please feel free to post it in the comments section below.