I've delayed posting anything about the PSN being down all week, since there hasn't been anything but speculation, till now.  Sony has revealed that they are fairly certain the following information has been stolen:

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name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained

And to top it off, likely any credit card information you had entered may have been pilfered.

Source:http://ps3.dashhacks.com/2011/04/26/your-psn-info-got-jacked

Expect an email from Sony in the coming days regarding this complete breakdown in security.

Reports of credit card fraud are appearing now, so it's safe to assume that that information has been stolen as well.
I wonder if that's how my yahoo account got hacked this past week.  I think it and PSN were the same password.

Sounds like we'll be getting a free month of Playstation Plus as an apology from Sony

Was the PSN hack an inside job?  Sony had JUST laid off 200 of its SOE workers, and the next business day discovered they were hacked.  Hmmm...  http://ps3.dashhacks.com/2011/05/02/psn-hack-inside-job

Despite assurances that SOE itself was safe and not hacked, today they took SOE offline (Everquest, and the like) due to an issue that "warrants enough concern".

Also, contrary to previous statements, NOW Sony says 10 Million credit cards may have been exposed in the hack.  http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....-network-attack.html

Sony has now admitted they think an additional 25 million accounts from SOE have had their data stolen as well. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13256817

Y'know, at this point I would have trouble believing them if they told me my PS3 was black.

It seems like PSN account owners from Ontario are now launching a 1 billion dollar class action suit against Sony for breach of privacyhttp://ca.news.yahoo.com/ont-woman-sues-sony-over-data-breach-065342478.html

Wow.  Just wow.  I can't believe Sony was so negligent with security.  http://www.geek.com/articles/g.....no-firewall-2011055/

To summarize:

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security experts apparently reported some major failings with Sony’s servers some three months before the April 17 hack occurred

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Sony was running PSN on a server that had an outdated version of Apache and no firewall in place

That means the server you're reading from right now, which is by no means hardened to enterprise level security, is significantly more secure than Sony was keeping our PSN data.  Holy f***!  Whomever is in charge of their infrastructure needs to be blacklisted from working in I.T.  This is pure stupidity, and makes me want to b**** slap any Sony sympathizers suggesting I view them as "victims".  This is the equivalent of standing naked in some ghetto fanning yourself with wads of cash.  It's only a matter of time before somebody takes advantage.

PSN is back up.  You need to grab 3.61 firmware of course, which forces you to change your password (with good reason!).  At this moment though there is no online gaming or store.

Sony has announced the free games up for grabs as an apology.  http://kotaku.com/5802411/sony.....e-freebies-in-europe

You can pick two of the following games:

LittleBigPlanet
Infamous
Wipeout HD/Fury
Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty (Europe only)
Dead Nation
Super Stardust HD (North America/Germany only)

And PSP owners can pick two of these:

LittleBigPlanet PSP
ModNation Racers PSP
Pursuit Force
Killzone Liberation

LittleBigPlanet and inFAMOUS here I come.  I just wish they offered modnation racers for the PS3.

Just as PSN started coming back up, a new exploit surfaced.  Their web site is in "maintenance mode" now.  http://ps3.dashhacks.com/2011/05/18/web-based-psn-login-password-recovery-exploited

Hopefully, people will have changed their passwords quickly!

WTF Sony!?  The latest firmware kills my hardware?  WTF?

"Sorry we lost all your information.  As an apology, we offer you these games.  But of course, you need to upgrade to the latest firmware.  And the latest firmware will kill your hardware."

http://ca.kotaku.com/5803377/rockstar-says-your-ps3s-are-overheating-because-of-firmware

Okay, that is a bit of conjecture.. there's no "proof" that the latest firmware is overheating people's PS3s.  But the alternative is it's just coincidental, that any "taxing" game (like L.A. Noire) would cause it.  To which I ask, why weren't people complaining BEFORE the new firmware?

The Playstation Store won't be coming back online until at least May 31st.  They've missed their deadline for some reason.  http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/9129.html  Maybe it's because all the other Sony resources that are being hacked too, so they are shoring up their defences.

Sony suffers yet more security breaches.  http://it.slashdot.org/story/11/05/25/1337215/Sony-Suffers-Yet-More-Security-Breaches  It's like sharks smelling blood in the water.