英文記事で英語を学ぶ

Sony Corp. said Tuesday that some users' personal information had been compromised in a hacker attack as the outage of its global PlayStation Network entered a seventh day.
The company confirmed that an "external intrusion" by hackers disrupted the service, affecting more than 75 million users worldwide who use it to play video games against friends, stream movies and shop online.
"We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network," the company said in a post on the official PlayStation blog.
Hackers may have obtained users' names, home addresses, email addresses, birthdates, PlayStation Network usernames and passwords, and answers to password security questions, according to the blog post.
There was no evidence that credit card information had been compromised, but Sony said it "cannot rule out the possibility" that hackers could access such information.
"For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information," the blog post continued. "Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking."
Patrick Seybold, Sony senior director of corporate communications and social media, said Saturday that Sony was completely rebuilding its systems to strengthen its network infrastructure in the wake of the service disruption, which began April 20.
Players can still play games offline, but are unable to challenge others over the internet, one of the console's key features.
Hacker group Anonymous was originally suspected of causing the disruption as it had previously vowed retribution against the Japanese electronics giant after it took legal action against two hackers.
However, in a message on its website Friday, titled "For Once We Didn't Do It," the group denied responsibility, saying that while it was possible that individual hackers had targeted the network, Sony was not an official target.

■単語
outage
[名][U][C]
1 ((米))停電(power outages), 動力停止（((英))power failure）.
2 （積み出し中に生じた商品の）目減り.



disrupt
[動](他)
1 …を混乱させる；〈国家・政府などを〉崩壊させる；〈交通網などを〉途絶させる
The news disrupted the meeting.
その知らせに会場は騒然となった.
2 （一般に）〈物を〉分離する，引き裂く，破裂させる.
━━[形]混乱した；中断した；分裂［崩壊］した.
［ラテン語disruptus（dis-離れて＋rumpere破る＋-tus＝破り離される）. △INTERRUPT］


compromise
[名]
1 [U][C]（相互の）妥協，歩み寄り，互譲
reach a compromise
妥協が成立する
make [arrange] a compromise with ...
…と妥協する.
2 妥協［折衷］案；折衷したもの，中間物
a compromise between a pen and a writing-brush
ペンと筆との中間物
thrash out [work out] a compromise
妥協案を産み出す.
3 （評判・信用などを）危うくすること
a compromise of character
品性を疑われるような言動.
━━[動](他)
1 〈紛争などを〉妥協して解決する，示談にする.
2 〈信用・名声・評判などを〉危うくする，傷つける，汚す；〈能力を〉弱める
compromise oneself [=be compromised]
体面を傷つける
compromise one's reputation
評判を落とす
compromise the relationship
関係を悪化させる.
3 〈主義・理想などを〉曲げる.
━━(自)（←(他)）［I（[副]）］
1 （…で；…と）妥協［和解］する，歩み寄る((on, over ...；with ...)).
2 （…で）恥ずべき譲歩をする，屈従する((with ...)).
［中フランス語←ラテン語. COM-共に＋PROMISE約束する］


scam
((俗))[名]汚い手口，せこいやり口，詐欺.
━━[動](他)…をぺてんにかける.
［SCHEMEの異形］



retribution
[名][U]
1 （悪業などの）報い，仕返し，報復((for ...))；懲罰
in retribution for ...
…の報いとして
suffer terrible retribution
ひどい仕返しを受ける.
2 神学天罰(divine retribution)
the day of retribution
応報の日，神の審判の下される日.