psn-outage-2011
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PlayStation Network coming online throughout North America
Sony has accomplished what Al Gore is still working on -- America has gone green. That means PlayStation Network should be in the process of coming back online in your state, just in time for you to turn on all your LCD televisions, 7.1 surround sound systems and high-powered consoles, and get back to saving a virtual representation of the planet. Sony's senior director of corporate communications and social media, Patrick Seybold, notes that it may take some time before servers are populated to the max, so don't panic if you can't access PSN immediately. The first phase of network restoration includes online play, Qriocity, video streaming, friend list functionality and PlayStation Home. The PlayStation Store is still out of commission. Once signed in, you should be able to change your password, link that copy of Portal 2 to Steam, sync your Trophies and then sink some time into your multiplayer games. Hello, Sunday!
PlayStation Network restoration begins, first phase includes online play
Following the release of firmware 3.61, Sony has announced that PlayStation Network and Qriocity restoration will be rolled out in phases, country by country, starting with the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. The first phase, leading up to a "full" return by the end of May, includes the following services: Sign-in for PlayStation®Network and Qriocity services, including the resetting of passwords Restoration of online game-play across PS3 and PSP Playback rental video content, if within rental period, of PlayStation Network Video Delivery Service on PS3, PSP and MediaGo Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity, for current subscribers, on PS3 and PC Access to 3rd party services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and MLB.tv 'Friends' category on PS3, including Friends List, Chat Functionality, Trophy Comparison, etc PlayStation Home When is restoration coming to you? If you're in America, you'll want to keep an eye on Sony's roll-out map -- if your state is highlighted, it means PSN is back on. This is a great way to communicate the PSN's progress, provided it's updated regularly. While you wait -- Sony adds that some services will take some time to become active in your area -- watch Kaz Hirai announcing the PSN's long-awaited return. (And be sure to change your password once you are able to sign in!)
PS3 firmware 3.61 goes live, change your password when PSN returns [update]
Sony has sent word that a new, mandatory PlayStation 3 firmware update (version 3.61) is now live. It is strongly recommended (by us, too!) that you change your password following the retrieval and installation of the firmware, and once PSN has been restored in your region. Update: An earlier version of this post erroneously stated that you could change your password immediately, but it's dependent on PlayStation Network being restored. You now have the ability to do so once the network is re-activated in your region. We apologise for the error. The announcement states that your password may be changed only through the PlayStation 3 on which your PSN account has been activated. If you have never downloaded any content on that pairing of account and system, an email will be sent to the address associated with your PSN ID. That message will contain instructions on how to enable your new password and sign back in to PSN. According to Sony's Network Entertainment VP, Eric Lempel, the update is meant to prepare users and their consoles "for when PlayStation Network is back online" -- the PSN is not operational yet. Still, we can feel some excitement brewing! We always start playing once the firmware update's done. Update 2: See? Following the update, a phased restoration will begin. Read more here.
Dark Souls aiming for October 11 launch despite PSN problems
Well, here's another wrinkle in the PSN outage we hadn't considered. In addition to keeping developers from offering their games to PSN users, it looks like the downtime is also affecting development of online-capable titles. Specifically, Kei Horono, producer of Dark Souls, has told CVG that the outage has cause "some problems" for his project's development. Despite those issues, Horono says the team is "in contact with Sony and [is] aiming to meet a street date of October 11." His comments make it clear that the PSN outage is causing more widespread complications than many may realize. Also, it's worth pointing out that, in discussing the issue, it appears Horono may have given away the planned Dark Souls launch date, which was only recently revealed as simply "October."
Report: UK retailers say PS3 trade-ins doubling due to PSN outage
We're approaching the one-month anniversary of the PlayStation Network's deactivation due to that pesky security breach, and according to a report from Edge the downtime's starting to have an effect at UK games retailers. The report cites a number of anonymous game shop clerks, all of whom paint a fairly similar picture of the response to the outage: PlayStation 3 trade-ins have doubled in their respective stores in the past few weeks, with most shoppers exchanging their consoles for Xbox 360s or cash. That may sound like a fairly inflammatory report, but the reasoning is sound: Almost all the retailers say these shoppers are hardcore FPS players, and are acquiring Xbox 360s to get back in their Call of Duty: Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 routines. Furthermore, all of the retailers report an increased trade-in rate for the PS3 version of Black Ops. Trading in your gaming console sounds like a pretty drastic way to keep playing a game you love -- then again, we're no strangers to the siren call of the Killstreak.
Report: Sony's PSN servers were up to date
Bitmob reports that Sony's PSN servers were running the most recent version of the Apache server software when they were hit, countering testimony made to the US Congress claiming that the PSN was running "very old versions of Apache software that were unpatched and had no firewall installed." That testimony was admittedly based on second-hand information. Using Google's webcache, a member of the Beyond3D forums showed that as of March 23, Sony was running version 2.2.17, which was the latest stable version. If you're so inclined, you can double-check the process of B3D's "deathindustrial." Outdated servers or not, Sony has PSN, SOE and non-PSN related security issues to work out before returning to reality (and compromised trust) at the end of this month. [Thanks, mmmfishtacos]
PSN outage costing Capcom 'hundreds of thousands, if not millions,' exec says
A Capcom-Unity forum user received a surprisingly frank response from senior VP Christian "Sven" Svensson when he asked the executive, "Do you have anything to say about the ordeal going down with hackers messing with [Sony] and stealing information from their servers?" Does he ever! Svensson, who said he was "frustrated and upset" by last month's breach and subsequent outage, offered a two-fold response, first addressing the question from his consumer perspective. "I also play games online on PS3, which I can't do ... and likely my personal information is also compromised," he lamented. "Secondly I like to buy things in the PlayStation [Store] and that I can't do right now" -- not to mention play Capcom's pair of DRM-protected PSN games offline. While the gamer in Svensson seems to have a surefire back-up plan (his post signature notes he's currently playing Portal 2 on PC), his corporate officer side has less wiggle room to weather the outage. "On a related note, as an executive responsible for running a business, the resulting outage obviously costing us hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue that were planned for within our budget," he added. "These are funds we rely on to bring new games to market for our fans." Svensson made no mention of any specific delays, cancellations or business restructuring that might result from the revenue shortfall, nor did he suggest how Capcom might look to recoup the lost revenue. His response also avoided any critique of Sony's handling of the situation, and instead stayed on topic: "CAPCOM- How do you feel about the SONY Hackers?" asks the thread's title. "In short, the hackers appear to be trying to 'punish' Sony for some perceived injustice, and they've been effective in that I suppose," Svensson concluded. "But they're also punishing millions of other consumers and businesses which makes it impossible to be sympathetic to their 'cause.'" [Pictured: Capcom PSN Storefront; source: Capcom-Unity]
Report: Sony plans to restart PSN services 'fully' by May 31
While Sony works to restore components of PlayStation Network and its Qriocity music service, a Tokyo-based representative of the company projects that both will be fully restored by the end of May. Speaking to Bloomberg, Shigenori Yushida stated that a complete reboot of Sony's online suite would be initiated by May 31. What exactly comes on before then remains to be seen. Sony aimed to re-launch some services (including Home, chat functionality and friends lists) during last week, but delayed its plans in order to finalize testing of what it claims is a reconstructed and more secure network. For the time being, Sony will likely focus on getting new PS3 firmware out to allow users to update their usernames and passwords, and restoring online gaming, which has been deactivated since April 20. Since then, PS3 versions of big releases like Portal 2 and Mortal Kombat have been locked out of online play. To make the timing especially awkward, Splash Damage's multiplayer-focused shooter, Brink, is making its debut this week.
Sony removes 2500 'names and partial addresses' from exposed Sony website [Update: Not PSN related!]
Update 11:15am: After some followup with our Japanese correspondant (Thanks, Ittousai!) we've updated the below story. Notably, the data was not from the PSN breach; rather, it was obtained from a publicly exposed file on Sony's own website, as revealed in this tweet two days ago. It's unclear what Reuters meant when it reported that the information "had been stolen by hackers and posted on a website" that Sony subsequently removed. It appears that Sony was able to remove the data from the website because ... it was Sony's own website! While this isn't related to the PSN attack, it is similarly emblematic of Sony's overall inability to protect sensitive customer data. You'll find our original (and erroneous) report after the break. Update 11:56am: Included Sony's statement under More Coverage.
PSN reactivation delayed for 'further testing,' likely not coming back this week
On Sunday, Sony announced that "some" PSN services, including online play, would come back this week. With very little of this week remaining, you might be wondering if it's still going to happen. Well, it isn't. In an update on the PlayStation Blog, Sony's Patrick Seybold passes along the bad news that service renewal has been delayed to an unspecified time. "When we held the press conference in Japan last week," Seybold said, "based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week. We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system." He didn't flat out say this week is out of the question, but that's definitely the implication. Seybold apologized for the delay. To those of us (all of us) waiting to get back to our online services, he said "trust me when I say we're doing everything we can to make it happen."
Anonymous members say Sony attacks were 'likely' connected to movement
The Financial Times reports that two "veteran" members of Anonymous say some element of the organization was "likely" behind the attacks on Sony earlier this month. At least, they're saying that as much as any two people can take credit for a large, essentially unconnected group of strangers. There was an "official" Anonymous movement against Sony called "OpSony," say the veteran members, and according to them, "if you say you are Anonymous, and do something as Anonymous, then Anonymous did it." That's the problem Sony is having with the non-organization -- members of Anonymous have both now taken credit for and denied being behind the attacks, but since Anonymous is by definition a decentralized, self-defined community, it can't really "take credit" or be held responsible for anything itself. That said, while the Anonymous movement is hard to pin down, it is made up of a group of real people, and those people are being investigated as "one of the key targets" by US law enforcement. If and when charges are brought in this case, "Anonymous" won't be on the stand -- it's not a real organization you can arrest or subpoena. But the hackers who were reportedly acting in conjunction with the online movement likely will be.
SCEE 'working incredibly hard' to offer protection for European PSN users [update: Sony to offer ID theft protection and free PS3, PSP games]
With Sony already offering identity theft protection to PSN users in the United States, PlayStation Blog Europe has posted an update on the situation for European customers. SCEE head of communications Nick Caplin stated "we are working incredibly hard to offer you something very similar" to the protection scheme offered to US PSN users. Caplin noted that offering such a plan is "a very complicated thing to achieve" given the number of countries in the European region. That said, he added that Sony is "close" to finding a solution and hopes to announce something "very soon." Update: Caplin has penned another PlayStation Blog post, detailing some of Sony's plans to offer compensation and identity theft protection to European PSN users. Caplin reiterated the difficulty in providing ID theft protection in different countries, though Sony hopes to "provide details of exactly which services are available in each country and explain how to sign up" by "early next week." Furthermore, Sony will also offer free games to European PSN users. PS3 owners will be able to choose two free games from a selection of five. PSP owners will be able to choose two games from a selection of four. The available games should be announced "very soon."
Stringer issues apology for 'inconvenience and concern' caused by PSN breach
Capping off a day that's seen his company accused of opening the door to hackers by using outdated software and not using firewalls on its thoroughly compromised PlayStation Network servers, Sony president Sir Howard Stringer has taken to the PlayStation Blog to offer a formal apology for the entire ordeal. In his open letter, Stringer says he and the company are sorry for "the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack," while also addressing what many consider a failure in not letting users know their data was stolen sooner. "I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It's a fair question," he writes. "I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had -- or had not -- been taken." On the topic of the stolen data being used by the hackers or connected parties, Stringer says that, "to date, there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused, and we continue to monitor the situation closely." This comes less than an hour after Sony announced that PSN users will receive a free year of ID theft protection from Debix. Sony says it's in the "final stages" of testing its rebuilt PSN, so hopefully that, combined with Stringer's comments, offers hope that it will get the service back online -- even in a limited form -- by next week.
Sony to offer PSN users free identity theft protection for one year
In the latest turn of events involving the theft of personal data for millions of PlayStation Network users, Sony has announced that it is partnering with Debix to offer 12 months of identity theft protection free of charge. Debix's "AllClear ID" protection will be made available to PSN and Qriocity account holders in the US, with the console maker "working to make similar programs available in other countries/territories where applicable." Sony says that users should be receiving offer emails "over the next few days" containing a promotional code for Debix's service, after which they'll have until June 18 to sign up. It's not stated whether this offer extends to users who create PSN accounts once the service goes back online, or only to those who had accounts before the outage, but we're following up with Sony for clarification. Under the AllClear ID plan, users will be alerted if their private data turns up on criminal websites or during law enforcement raids, have "priority access to licensed private investigators and identity restoration specialists" and will receive up to $1 million in compensation if their stolen data is used fraudulently within 12 months of sign-up. We've included the full rundown on what the service will offer after the break.
Sony: PSN rebuild complete, internal testing in 'final stages'
We're getting closer. Sony has just announced via the PlayStation Blog that work on rebuilding the PlayStation Network at its new data center is complete, and that its "global network and security teams" teams are busy testing it internally. According to the announcement, Sony is in "the final stages of internal testing of the new system, an important step towards restoring PlayStation Network and Qriocity services." The company didn't go so far as to estimate when PSN will be back online for everyone, but it's calling this a "milestone" in the process, so we'll hopefully learn more soon.
PSN servers were 'unpatched and had no firewall installed,' security expert testifies
The House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade continues to seek answers regarding last month's breach of the PlayStation Network's security. The one it got yesterday from Purdue professor and security expert Dr. Gene Spafford is troubling, to say the least, if the situation he detailed actually played out as described. Spafford told the subcommittee that, according to security mailing lists he subscribes to, "individuals who work in security and participate in the Sony network" had learned "several months ago" that PSN was hosted on servers running "very old versions of Apache software that were unpatched and had no firewall installed." The professor continued, "they had reported these [issues] in an open forum that was monitored by Sony employees, but had seen no response and no change or update to the software." The timeframe for these events was "two to three months prior to the incident where the break-ins occurred," according to Spafford. It's important to note that his account of the situation and information is second-hand. Still, the potential for this testimony to cause the subcommittee, headed by representative Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), to demand more answers from Sony -- and, more specifically, the individuals mentioned by Spafford -- does exist. Sony could not be reached for comment.
Anonymous denies involvement with PSN hack
Despite Sony's report of an Anonymous slogan found on a compromised SOE server, the hacking group denied responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to The Guardian. The group claimed that this hack, which resulted in the prolonged (and ongoing) outage of the PlayStation Network and the leak of data from millions of accounts, is not in keeping with Anonymous's MO of fighting organizations' criminal activities with hacks. "Public support is not gained by stealing credit card info and personal identities," the statement reads. "We are trying to fight criminal activities by corporations and governments, not steal credit cards." The statement showed confidence in Anonymous's lack of involvement: "If a legitimate and honest investigation into the credit card is conducted, Anonymous will not be found liable. While we are a distributed and decentralized group, our 'leadership' does not condone credit card theft." Of course, the "intrusion" could still have been the work of someone who self-identifies as an Anonymous member; that very "distributed and decentralized" structure makes it difficult to identify officially sanctioned actions by those claiming affiliation. Last month, during intermittent PSN outages, Anonymous issued a release saying that it would not attempt to take PSN down, because it did not want to "severely impact Sony customers."
DC Universe Online players get credit, mask for downtime
Sony Online Entertainment plans to give all DC Universe Online players a free month and "Batman-Inspired mask" as compensation for the current outage. The company asked players on the game's Facebook page to bear with them as "the complexities of the subscription server dictate how and when this will be available" and that the company will be releasing "more information this week." The outage is part of the overall PlayStation Network issue that resulted in SOE announcing earlier this week that 12,700 credit card numbers were taken and 24.6 million accounts were compromised. So, yeah, a free month and a virtual hat seems like a good start to an apology.
Sony responds to Congress with open letter, suggests 'Anonymous' was responsible
In response to a letter sent to Sony by the US House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade, Sony's Kazuo Hirai sent an open letter detailing Sony's "principles" in dealing with the PSN outage and Sony/SOE data leaks. The full letter has been scanned and placed on Flickr for public view. A PlayStation Blog post summarizes the content of the letter. According to Hirai, Sony has worked under the following four principles in dealing with the issue: "Act with care and caution, " "Provide relevant information to the public when it has been verified," "Take responsibility for our obligations to our customers," and "Work with law enforcement authorities." In addition, the letter and post provide a timeline of the attack, including this early clue: "We discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of our Sony Online Entertainment servers named 'Anonymous' with the words 'We are Legion.'" Despite that evidence, Sony still says it has yet to identify the "individual(s) responsible for the breach." It's unclear if that means Sony does not think the hacking organization known as Anonymous was responsible or, rather, if it hasn't managed to uncover the actual identities of Anonymous' ... err, anonymous contributors. The "Welcome Back" program was also detailed, through which Sony is offering free downloads, and free PlayStation Plus memberships (and Qriocity access for those subscribers) lasting 30 days plus the length of the PSN outage.
Canadian firm proposes class action against Sony to the tune of $1B in damages
A proposed class action lawsuit filed in Ontario, Canada against Sony over the PlayStation Network breach is shooting for the jackpot. The suit claims damages "in excess of $1 billion" for the breach of consumer privacy, in part to cover the costs of credit monitoring and fraud insurance over two years for the estimated 1 million PSN and Qriocity users living in Canada. Toronto law firm McPhadden Samac Tuovi has proposed the class action against Sony Japan, Sony USA, Sony Canada and other Sony "entities," and added in its press release, "While Sony has advised American users about the availability of free credit reports, it has yet to advice Canadian users about credit reports." Filed on behalf of representative plaintiff Natasha Maksimovic, the claim alleges Sony exposed its customers to identity and financial theft, in addition to "fear, anxiety (and) emotional distress," according to The Canadian Press. Maksimovic, 21, of Mississauga, Ont., has been described by the law firm as "an avid PlayStation user for years," who signed up for PSN and Qriocity for use on her PSP and Sony e-book. "If you can't trust a huge multinational corporation like Sony to protect your private information, who can you trust?" she asked in the firm's release. "It appears to me that Sony focuses more on protecting its games than its PlayStation users." Sony has 20 days to file a statement of defense in Canada and additional time to do so in the US and elsewhere.
