This week has seen a number of incidents related to hacking and the unauthorized access of information. In some cases, personal information has been compromised, in others, system administrators were able to take their networks down before anything was badly damaged. Following the recent PSN hack, which brought down Sony's systems for over a month and put many users' payment information and personal details at risk, the public eye is very much on hacker activity -- so here's a summary of what's been going on this week.
Bethesda Site Latest Target for Hackers
On Monday, the Skyrim publisher reported a recent intrusion that nabbed a bunch of users' data, including 200,000 Brink accounts, but hacker collective LulzSec was more than happy to give out the details
LulzSec Topples EVE Online, Escapist Magazine, Minecraft and League of Legends Servers
On Tuesday, LulzSec went on a rampage, encouraged by "fans" on Twitter, and took down a number of high-profile targets, including EVE Online's login server and website, The Escapist's website, Minecraft's login servers and League of Legends.
Sony Delayed Informing Customers Following PSN Breach
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Sony knew about users' information being compromised a little earlier than they had previously admitted.
CCP Updates Players on LulzSec EVE Online Hack
Also on Wednesday, publisher-developer CCP issued an official statement regarding LulzSec's hack of EVE Online...
LulzSec Continues to Harass the Internet, Takes EVE Down Again
...following which, the group crippled EVE Online's login servers again while harassing a number of other companies using phone forwarding.
Hack of the Day: BioWare's Decade-Old Neverwinter Nights Forum
On Thursday, it was reported that a number of EA accounts had been compromised via BioWare's decade-old forum that was originally put in place to allow the Neverwinter Nights community to communicate and collaborate. LulzSec didn't appear to be involved, as at the time members of the group were releasing 62,000 user ID and password combinations for a variety of sites to the public.
Hack of the Day: Sega Hit By Unknown Intruders
On Friday, Sega reported that a number of Sega Pass forum accounts had been compromised. LulzSec claimed not to be involved, and offered its services to the company to track down and exact a hackers' revenge on the culprits.
Who Are LulzSec and What Do They Stand For?
Also on Friday, LulzSec issued a lengthy statement explaining their actions throughout the week and showing no remorse for their actions. Ostensibly, their point was to highlight how flawed many companies' Internet security was, but they also explained that they indulged in this behavior for "entertainment" purposes.
That's the week to date. Hacking activity has been growing a great deal in the past few weeks since Sony's high-profile security breach. Be sure to keep yourself safe online by using different passwords for different sites; using secure passwords that include mixtures of upper and lower case letters, numbers and symbols -- especially on sites that store your payment information such as Amazon and PayPal; and consider setting up dummy email addresses for publicly-accessible accounts to help keep your private email private.
This article originally appeared on GamePro.com as The Week in Hacking