Following on from the hack into Square Enix's (Deus Ex, Tomb Raider franchises) servers last week, the Japanese company has been sending out an email to its members, updating them on the situation. They explain that no personal information was lifted, but have suspended their member's service while investigations continue. This rather reassuring explanation is in stark contrast to initial reports that up to 1.8 million accounts (1M in Japan, 800K in America) had had personal information lifted, such as names, phone numbers and email addresses. However, it does appear that no personal, login or credit card info was accessed in the end, the company reports (hopefully honestly). Here is that Square Enix email in full:

Dear Square Enix Member,

You are receiving this email because Square Enix detected a limited server intrusion on December 12, 2011, and temporarily suspended the US/JP editions of the SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS service in order to conduct an investigation.

Based on our investigation, we have found no evidence at this point that any personal information was accessed. User login credentials and credit card information are not stored on the affected server. We are continuing to investigate.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the temporary suspension of the SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS service. We take data security extremely seriously and we regret any inconvenience this may have caused our customers and fans. We appreciate your patience and support at this time as we finalize our investigation in the next few days.

Any updates will be posted on our corporate website at: www.square-enix.com/na/

Sincerely,

SQUARE ENIX


This email was sent by SQUARE ENIX INC. 999 N. Sepulveda Blvd. #3 El Segundo, CA 90245

Their website also states that they hope to restart the member's service by the end of December. The company's security record doesn't really seem all that good though, as recently in May, they were hacked as well, with websites deusex.com and eidosmontreal.com having suffered intrusions, with 25,000 customer records having had their details lifted.

As with many big hacks like this, the real extent is likely to only be realized in time, because if more info got lifted than they're letting on, it'll tend to be complained about all over the internet as disgruntled customers who have been affected by the breach make their feelings known.