[UPDATED] Sony Online Entertainment Service Temporarily Suspended Due to "Intrusion"

First it was the Playstation Network, now this. Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has gone down temporarily for the time being for maintenance, but why? Well, it's rather unfortunate for its users who play DC Universe Online and the on-going Everquest games because SOE has stated on their site, along with their online portal Station.com that there has been an intrusion, much like the Playstation Network. The current official statement on the site, besides the one pictured above a few hours ago, is as follows:

"We have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today (Monday)."

Previously stated by them, SOE claimed that the PSN intrusion did not affect their MMO service at all and was seperate from it. It may have seemed the case, but it looks like these cyber attacks won't hold back from anything Sony related.

Let's hope that these users won't get their information stolen

[UPDATE] - So it all goes downhill even more from here, unfortunately. Earlier today, Sony has confirmed that this was not a seperate attack and happened at the same time as the one on PSN. Up to "24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007. The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates"

The following quote are from their official press release that was released a bit earlier today:

Tokyo, May 3, 2011 – Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment announced today that their ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE, the company) systems revealed yesterday morning (May 2, Tokyo time) that hackers may have stolen SOE customer information on April 16th and 17th, 2011 (PDT). SOE is based in San Diego, California, U.S.A.

This information, which was discovered by engineers and security consultants reviewing SOE systems, showed that personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007. The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain.

As the on going investigation is still underway about the cyber attack against Sony, this will mark the 2nd week that the Playstation Network is down, and now with the addition of Sony Online Entertainment today, this leaves with many gamers unable to play online multiplayer games.

As Sony and major gaming websites have been doing, along with myself who just did it today, go to your bank and replace your card with a new one or cancel your account if you still feel uncomfortable with this whole situation, regarding your personal information.

Check back with us at Gamerzitch as more of this story unfolds!