Home Articles See a timeline of the $77 million PlayStation network hack

See a timeline of the $77 million PlayStation network hack [INFOGRAPHIC]

0

Hackers’ security breach of Sony’s PlayStation network ranks among one of the worst online attacks in history, according to the Australia-based Finder.

It took a month for Sony to dig out and cost the company an estimated $1.25 billion. Nearly 100 million users’ accounts were compromised, and about 77 million had their personal data stolen. (Data stolen included credit card information, but it’s unclear how much of that was taken). Even though Sony may have restarted the network in mid-May, it would be understandable if gamers were put off their “Final Fantasy” for a while.

ComparisonFinder assembled a handy infographic that tracks the hack.

It notes how quickly Sony reacted, bringing down the network as soon as the attack was detected. But it also points out that the company waited seven days before telling customers the outage was caused by a security breach — an agonising period for gamers.

A report by Bloomberg News said the hackers used Amazon’s Elastic Computer Cloud, or EC2, to attack Sony. And there’s the beauty and the beast of the Internet: EC2 is inexpensive and easy to use, which makes it attractive to everyone, including online thieves.

How hackers hit PlayStation network

Sony Playstation Network Hack
Produced by Finder