Thousands of people worldwide who used Sony's Playstation system and gave their credit card numbers for purchases may have been hacked, say experts behind the popular video game device. Sony disclosed that names, e-mail addresses, passwords and other personal information may have been obtained by computer hackers in a massive data breach. Some people said the breach may stop them from using Playstation in the future, even though company executives said they couldn't be sure that the hackers got credit card information. Still, they advise those who have used Playstation's online store to watch for any unauthorized activity on their cards. The breach is expected to cost Sony billions of dollars; the company has hired an outside firm to analyze the breach and see exactly what information was leaked. Kevin Poulson, senior editor at Wired.com, says such breaches could become more and more common in an era when people use all kinds of devices, including online gaming systems, to access the Internet and make purchases. The first two minutes of this video is an overview of the Playstation data breach; the rest is a discussion with Poulson. Quotes "I will be afraid of playing with the game machine after hearing of this. I don't want my credit card information to be leaked out somewhere else in the world." - Tokyo resident "This is going to have a very negative impact on a business that they have built up, because I think a lot of -- obviously, a lot of consumers will really be very wary of putting their credit card information back online or even buying anything." - Thomas Puha, industry expert "You know, the biggest risk is probably with the personal information, especially the passwords, because a lot of people use the same passwords everywhere. So, that, coupled with your email address and your real name and your date of birth, the hackers will, if this was done for profit, then, all of that could wind up being sold on the black market, probably for a nice sum of money." - Kevin Poulson, wired.com Warm Up Questions 1. What is a hacker? 2. How often do you and your family buy things over the Internet? What kinds of things do you buy? 3. What devices do you use every day that connect to the Internet? Discussion Questions 1. If you were one of the people whose information was leaked through this Playstation breach, would you keep using the gaming system? Why or why not? 2. Why do you think hackers would want to sell information about people on the "black market," as Poulson mentions? Why is that information valuable? 3. What kind of information about yourself have you put on the Internet? Do you think any of it is at risk of being hacked or used in a way it was not intended to be used? Additional Resources Video Transcript Cyber Crime and Spying Threaten National Security Obama Takes Aim at Cyber Threats Download this Video