Sony claims that a possibility of unauthorized access through the PLAYSTATION®Store, a content download service of the PLAYSTATION®Network, may have occurred. This obviously compromises the millions of accounts subscribed to the said network. The full transcript is given here.

However, Sony reassures its customers that only a small percentage of users are affected, and that since PLAYSTATION Network accounts do not display entire credit card numbers, any unauthorized access to a PLAYSTATION Network account is very unlikely to compromise anyone’s credit information.

If you are a Playstation gamer subscribed to this service, it may be time to check your login credentials. “If you can successfully sign in with your pre-set password, your account is not affected by this incident…,” so goes Sony’s statement.

With malware authors also targeting online gaming, where virtual commodities may fetch higher values than their tangible counterparts, this news may come as no surprise. For gamers, online identity is worth its weight in gold, and it would be devastating to see one’s account hacked, and all hard-earned loot stolen, effectively laying all those hours of hard work to waste.

As with any online account, Trend Micro advises caution and compliance to best industry practices. Use strong passwords, change them frequently, and never share them with anyone else. In this regard, a password change is almost mandatory. Nobody wants a real-world “game over.”