U.S. Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Palm Springs, who represents Murrieta in Congress, has directed a subcommittee to begin a thorough investigation into the Sony PlayStation security breach that caused a hacker to obtain personal information on more than 70 million users.

Sony believes someone gained unauthorized access into its PlayStation and Qriocity networks between April 17 and 19, obtaining names, addresses, birth dates, login information and possibly credit card information of millions of online users.

The breach caused a shut down of Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity systems, which consumers use to play online gaming and access music, movies, sports and TV shows.

Bono Mack called the data breach "deeply troubling."

Bono Mack, who is the chair of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, then announced her intentions to determine if hearings are needed.

“Clearly, consumers need additional safeguards, and I will soon introduce legislation designed to provide it," Bono Mack said in a statement to the media.

In an April 26 post by Sony's Senior Director of Corporate Communications & Social Media, Patrick Seyboid, the company said it hopes to "have a clear path to have PlayStation Network and Qriocity systems back online, and expects to restore some services within a week."

"For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information," Seyboid said. "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."

Bono Mack said the "massive" incident reinforces her "long-held belief that much more needs to be done to protect consumer information."

“While I remain hopeful that Sony and law enforcement officials will quickly determine the extent of this data breach, it serves as a reminder – as well as a wake-up call – that all companies have an overriding responsibility to protect personal information and to promptly notify consumers when that information has been jeopardized," Bono Mack said.

"...Americans should be quickly informed when their personal information has been hacked," she continued. "Especially in instances like this where there is an obvious potential for large scale identity theft.  

To read Sony's full statement, click here.