On Monday, May 2, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) announced that it will provide complimentary enrollment in an identity theft protection program.
Following are the details of this program for Station Account holders in the United States only. For Station Account holders who live in another country or territory, SOE will implement a similar program and provide more information on these programs as arrangements are made.
SOE has made arrangements with Debix, Inc., one of the industry's most reputable identity protection firms, to offer AllClear ID PLUS at no cost to Station Account holders for 12 months from the time an account holder registers for the program.
Details, including how to sign up for the program, will be emailed to Station Account holders in the United States soon, and you will have until June 28, 2011 to sign-up and redeem your code. Additionally, Station Account holders will be required to reset their password prior to signing up for this program as an added security measure.
The details of the program include, but are not limited to:
•Cyber monitoring and surveillance of the Internet to detect exposure of an AllClear ID PLUS customer's personal information, including monitoring of criminal web sites and data recovered by law enforcement. If his/her personal information is found, the customer will be alerted by phone and/or email and will be provided advice and support regarding protective steps to take. The customer will also receive monthly identity status reports. Debix works with an alliance of cyber-crime experts from the government, academia and industry to provide these services.
•Priority access to licensed private investigators and identity restoration specialists. If an AllClear ID PLUS customer receives an alert, or otherwise suspects that he/she may be the victim of identity theft, the customer can speak directly, on a priority basis, with an on-staff licensed private investigator, who will conduct a comprehensive inquiry. In the case of an identity theft, the customer can work with an identity restoration specialist to contact creditors and others, and take necessary steps to restore the customer's identity.
•A $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user to provide additional protection in the event that an AllClear ID PLUS customer becomes a victim of identity theft. This insurance would provide financial relief of up to $1 million for covered identity restoration costs, legal defense expenses, and lost wages that occur within 12 months after the stolen identity event.
Additionally, these emails will be sent by Innovyx, our third party email distributor, and will contain 'soe.innovyx.net' or 'soe.sony.com' in the sender field.
We continue to work around the clock to have SOE's services restored, and will be providing you specific details shortly.
SOE Begins Restoration of Services
UPDATE, May 14, 7:15p.m. EDT: SOE has slowly begun restoration of their services.
SOE - Restoration Announcement
SOE - Welcome Back Program
SOE - Recent Updates
SAN DIEGO, May 14, 2011 - Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that restoration of its game services will begin today. The phased restoration will include the return of nearly all of SOE's portfolio of online games, the reinstatement of SOE's game forums and websites, and added functionality to require players to reset their passwords.
For details on the hacker attack that has kept SOE down since May 2 and compromised the personal information of players, check out SOE's brief FAQ and all of our previous coverage. See this article for the May 12th news on the "Make Good" program details.
During the downtime you are welcome to join us in ZAM's IRC chat. Feldon of EQ2Wire also has set up a ZAM IRC java applet that you can use.
Game-specific May 11th updates:
EverQuest: Players with an active house will be credited one month of upkeep costs and the inactive period will be extended from 90 to 150 days.
EverQuest II: All houses requiring rent will have one month added free to help offset any costs incurred during this outage.
Free Realms: The Free Realms birthday event and the New Member Bonus Bonanza will be extended to give everyone a chance to participate in them. Don’t worry about your farms; they’ll be taken care of too!
Star Wars Galaxies: All Galactic Civil War point decay has been suspended and inactive citizen removal time temporarily increased by 14 days. Item and vendor expiration timers have also been increased by 14 days.
Vanguard: One day for each day lost will be added to every player's Upkeep Bank to help offset any costs incurred during this outage.
