Sony PlayStation Network Hack Hits 77 Million Users

Someone has a new collection of data that will likely prove very valuable. We're speaking, of course, of the Sony PlayStation Network user data stolen by hackers.

Sony says the hackers got a very complete profile of its 77 million users, including name, full address, country, email, date of birth and PlayStation Network login and password.

Oh, and by the way, Sony says it "can't rule out" the possibility that the hackers also got credit card information, not to mention past purchases and "secret answers" given to Sony for password security.

It's rare that hackers get this much information and most security analysts say it speaks very poorly of Sony that all this data was accessible to the crooks.

Hack jobs always raise the possibility of "phishing" expeditions, in which scam artists use the little information they have – perhaps email address and user id – to probe for the rest of the data. But the complete profiles lifted in the Sony hack can result in something much more dangerous, known as "spear-phishing," which enables con artists to be very specific in their emails, phone calls and so forth.

In a worst case scenario, the hackers may have enough information to place fictitious orders or even access consumers' credit and debit card accounts and drain money directly.

What to do

So what's a consumer to do? Well, once the cat is out of the bag, as they say, there's not much you can but be very vigilant and pro-active. This includes:

• Tell your credit card company your number has been compromised and ask for a new one;

• Ask the credit bureaus to put a fraud alert on your account;

• Review your online statements frequently – at least once a week – to detect any suspicious activity;

• If you use the Sony password and user ID on other sites, change them on every single site, immediately. Don't forget to change your email password.

To prevent future incidents:

• Use a different user ID and password on every site. There are password management tools that make this much easier than it sounds, including LastPass and KeePass. KeePass is a free open-source tool that is platform-independent, meaning it will work on Windows, Linux and Apple machines. LastPass has both paid and free versions.

• Keep your Internet browser (Firefox, Chrome, Explorer) and your operating system (Windows, Linux, Apple) up to date. It's vital to load all patches and updates.

• Keep your anti-virus software up to date.

Of course, in the Sony case, all the browser updates and anti-viruses programs in the world wouldn't have helped you but that doesn't mean they're not important. Sure, you can get mugged walking down the street but that doesn't mean you leave your home unlocked. Does it?