Give or take, on Thursday 04-21-2011, the Playstation Network (PSN) was brought down due to an intrusion into the network.
In other words, they were hacked. Lots of people screaming to get this back up, but a recent disclosure has up to 77 million people worried that their personal information was stolen. Yes, I typed 77 MILLION!
If you or someone you know has a Playstation Network account, including children, you need to read the following links!
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/27/us-sony-hacking-users-idUSTRE73Q3IT20110427
Most importantly, read the following if you have questions:
http://kotaku.com/#!5795474/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-playstation-network-outage
Suggestions when this comes live again:
1) Use only a valid email address when signed onto this or any gamer network
2) Purchase game cards for credits to be stored in your on-line wallet. This stops the chance you will have your Credit Card Stolen
3) Do NOT use valid address and user information. Your Personal Identification Information (PII) should be kept secret at all times. Create a ficticious name and or account and keep this information separate when you need to communicate or verify things. Keep yourself PRIVATE!
4) DO NOT use your actual birthday. Use one a few years, moths or even days away from your normal Birthday.
With just a little information, ESPECIALLY your Birthday, someone can figure out your Social Security number and attempt a complete Identity Theft with this information.
Be Smart, BE SAFE!!
