ICO Investigating Sony's PSN Issues

That's the Information Commissioner's Office, a UK-based independent authority dealing with data protection, not a boy with horns.

On the advice of UK gamer rights group Gamers' Voice, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has confirmed it will be investigating whether Sony properly protected gamers' data after it was revealed that millions' of users personal details -- possibly including credit card information -- had been compromised.

"The Information Commissioner's Office takes data protection breaches extremely seriously," the organization said to Eurogamer earlier today. "We are contacting Sony and will be making further enquiries to establish the precise nature of the incident before deciding what action, if any, needs to be taken by this office."

Sony faces several accusations: firstly, that it should have alerted customers sooner than yesterday that their personal information had been compromised, and secondly that the apparent ease with which the hackers "obtained" user passwords suggests that the company did not encrypt them well enough -- if at all.

Sony encourages everyone to check credit card statements and be on the lookout for scam emails and letters. It's also posted a full FAQ on the incident here -- be sure to read it if you're concerned.