ICO confirms it will quiz Sony over PSN

The Information Commissioner's Office will quiz Sony over the theft of millions of PlayStation Network users' personal data, Eurogamer can reveal.

It intends to ask the company questions over the possible theft of millions of users' credit card information - and find out whether it properly protected gamers' data.

"The Information Commissioner's Office takes data protection breaches extremely seriously," the organisation told Eurogamer this morning.

"Any business or organisation that is processing personal information in the UK must ensure they comply with the law, including the need to keep data secure.

"We have recently been informed of an incident which appears to involve Sony. 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 is facing accusations that it should have alerted its customers to the possibility that their credit card information had been stolen earlier than yesterday. Security codes have not been taken.

Sony is encouraging customers to check their credit card statements and be on the look out for scam emails and letters.

But questions have this morning arisen over the steps Sony took to protect our information.

The fact that user passwords have been "obtained", as Sony puts it, suggests Sony stored user passwords as plain text – and did not encrypt them.

Earlier this morning Eurogamer revealed UK gamer rights group Gamers' Voice plans to contact the ICO over the security breach.

Sony has pledged to track down the hacker responsible.