Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Playstation Network

Sony PlayStation Network To Be Down For 13 Hours Today

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 04:49:24 +0000

If you are a PlayStation 3 gamer, you will be disappointed to know that you will not be able to log in to the PlayStation Network for 13 hours today. Sony said that this is necessary maintenance on the network. They are going to optimize things and clean up. The network will go offline at 9AM Eastern time and it will last for about 13 hours. “During much of this time, users won’t be able to access the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home, Account Management or play online. PSN enabled websites will not be able to service users, including [the PlayStation Blog],” stated PlayStation Digital Platforms senior manager Matthew Harper.

Sony Locks Down Their PlayStation Network Servers After Hackers Tried To Gain Access Again

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:43:30 +0000

Sony has shut down their servers after hackers tried to gain unauthorized access to 93,000 user accounts. The hackers tried to go after Sony Online Entertainment, The PlayStation Network, and Sony Online Entertainment. Sony chief information security officer Philip Reitinger said “a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database, [and while] the overwhelming majority of the pairs resulted in failed matching attempts.” The hackers did have some success.

The hack attack affected less than 0.1% of Sony’s PlayStation network. “Only a small fraction of these 93,000 accounts showed additional activity prior to being locked,” stated Reitinger. “We are currently reviewing those accounts for unauthorized access, and will provide more updates as we have them.” Sony is reseting password and is sending out e-mails to those that were affected.

Police In Spain Arrest 3 Over PlayStation Network Hack

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 03:29:10 +0000

The police in Spain announced today that they have arrested three suspected men for hacking the PlayStation Network. The National Police said that the three arrested people were part of the hacker group Anonymous. During the time of the hack, Anonymous denied responsibility for it.

One of the 31-year old Spanish men had a computer server in his apartment that the group used to attack the websites of Sony’s PlayStation gaming store. The same server was used to coordinate cyberattacks against the Spanish banks BBVA and Bankia.

The three men were charged with forming an illegal association to attack websites. Sony estimates that the damages will cost them $173 million in damages.

[NYT]

Sony CEO Howard Stringer Said That Hack Attack Was A Hiccup In Company Strategy

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:33:26 +0000

Sony Corporation CEO Howard Stringer said that the hacker that knocked out the PlayStation Network that exploited 100 million customer accounts was a hiccup in the company’s strategy. “Nobody’s system is 100 percent secure,” stated Stringer. “This is a hiccup in the road to a network future.”

Stringer does not know how the hack attack will affect their earnings that is scheduled on May 26th. Sony had hired three security firms to look into the attack. Stringer offered U.S. users of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services per year free identity-theft protection that is backed by a $1 million insurance policy per user along with lost wages that occur after data is stolen.

[Bloomberg]

Sony Offers 2 Free PS3 or PSP Games For Download As Part Of PlayStation Network Hack Apology

Amit Chowdhry — Tue, 17 May 2011 07:28:40 +0000

The PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been restored after a major hack attack led to personal data being compromised. Sony took down the network at the end of April to upgrade their security. As an apology, Sony is offering two PS3 or 2 PSP games for free. Below is an excerpt from the PlayStation blog:

All PlayStation Network customers can select two PS3 games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.
* Dead Nation
* inFAMOUS
* LittleBigPlanet
* Super Stardust HD
* Wipeout HD + Fury

For PSP owners, you will be eligible to download two PSP games from the following list. The games will be available for 30 days shortly after PlayStation Store is restored and can be kept forever.

* LittleBigPlanet (PSP)
* ModNation Racers
* Pursuit Force
* Killzone Liberation

* A selection of “On Us” rental movie titles will be available to PlayStation Network customers over one weekend, where Video Service is available. Those titles will be announced soon.
* 30 days free PlayStation Plus membership for non PlayStation Plus subscribers.
* Existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive an additional 60 days of free subscription.
* Existing Music Unlimited Premium Trial subscription members will receive an additional 30 days of free premium subscription.
* Additional 30 days + time lost for existing members of Music Unlimited Premium/Basic subscription free of charge for existing Premium/Basic members.
* To welcome users Home, PlayStation Home will be offering 100 free virtual items. Additional free content will be released soon, including the next addition to the Home Mansion personal space, and Ooblag’s Alien Casino, an exclusive game.

Sony PlayStation Hackers Believed To Have Used Amazon.com EC2 Service

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 14 May 2011 16:15:38 +0000

As the investigation for the Sony PlayStation Network hackers continues, another interesting piece of evidence is that they used the Amazon EC2 service. The hackers used an alias to sign up for a server through Amazon and they launched the hack from there.

Sony said that the hack was “a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber attack.” The hackers used “the cloud” to plan the second biggest online theft of personal information. The hackers did not break into Amazon servers, but signed up for the service using fake information.

It is likely that the FBI will subpoena Amazon.com as part of the Sony PlayStation Network investigation. The subpoena will likely contain a history of transactions and which credit card was used.

[Bloomberg]

Hackers Planning To Hit Sony Again This Weekend

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 06 May 2011 18:04:36 +0000

An observer in an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel has reported to CNET that a group of hackers are planning to hit Sony once again. Sony is still recovering from an attack that was made on the PlayStation Network. The hackers involved in the case are interested in selling off some of the credit card data they stole from the PlayStation Network. The hackers plan on publicizing some or all of the information that they stole from Sony’s servers. This includes customer names, credit card numbers, and addresses. And the hackers are also claiming that they still have access to some of Sony’s servers.

While Sony does not know who is involved in the hack, they believe that the hacker group Anonymous has a connection to the case. Anonymous has denied the accusations yesterday. “While we are a distributed and decentralized group, our ‘leadership’ does not condone credit card theft,” said Anonymous.

Below is a letter that Sony CEO Howard Stringer wrote about the incident:

Dear Friends,

I know this has been a frustrating time for all of you.

Let me assure you that the resources of this company have been focused on investigating the entire nature and impact of the cyber-attack we’ve all experienced and on fixing it. We are absolutely dedicated to restoring full and safe service as soon as possible and rewarding you for your patience. We will settle for nothing less.

To date, there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused, and we continue to monitor the situation closely. We are also moving ahead with plans to help protect our customers from identity theft around the world. A program for U.S. PlayStation Network and Qriocity customers that includes a $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user was launched earlier today and announcements for other regions will be coming soon.

As we have announced, we will be offering a “Welcome Back” package to our customers once our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are up and running. This will include, among other benefits, a month of free PlayStation Plus membership for all PSN customers, as well as an extension of subscriptions for PlayStation Plus and Music Unlimited customers to make up for time lost.

As a company we — and I — apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack. Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible.

I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It’s a fair question. As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. 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.

As a result of what we discovered we notified you of the breach. Our investigation is ongoing, and we are upgrading our security so that if attacks like this happen again, our defenses will be even stronger.

In the last few months, Sony has faced a terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But now we are facing a very man-made event – a criminal attack on us — and on you — and we are working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies around the world to apprehend those responsible.

In the coming days, we will restore service to the networks and welcome you back to the fun. I wanted to personally reach out and let you know that we are committed to serving you to the very best of our ability, protecting your information better than ever, and getting you back to what you signed up for – all the games and great entertainment experiences that you expect from Sony.

With best regards,
Howard Stringer

Anonymous Says That They Did Not Hack The PlayStation Network

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:42:06 +0000

Anonymous is a hacker group that often performs network attacks on major corporations or over political reasons. They have publicly stated today that they were not responsible for stealing credit card data from the Sony PlayStation Network.

Sony said that Anonymous hit them with a denial of service attack and this left the doors open for other hackers to get in and steal sensitive data. Sony said that Anonymous attacked them since they went after hacker George Hortz who made a hack for the PlayStation 3 to run unauthorized programs.

Sony said that the found a file that was labeled anoynmous that had their slogan “we are legion” written in it. This led to Sony blaming Anonymous for what happened.

“While we are a distributed and decentralized group, our ‘leadership’ does not condone credit card theft,” stated Anonymous in a press release. “We are concerned with the erosion of privacy and fair use, the spread of corporate feudalism, the abuse of power and the justifications of executives and leaders who believe themselves immune personally and financially for the actions they undertake in the name of corporations and public office.”

Sony PlayStation Hackers Hoping To Sell Credit Card Information For $100,000

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 20:13:42 +0000

[image credit: NYT]

According to security researchers, the hackers that penetrated the Sony PlayStation Network has gotten their hands on credit card numbers and they want to sell them off. They have a database that contains the information on about 2.2 million people, including names, addresses, usernames, passwords, and credit card numbers.

Trend Micro senior threat researcher Kevin Stevens said that the Sony hackers are hoping to sell the credit card list for up to around $100,000. One of the hackers even offered to sell the data back to Sony, but they did not get a response back.

Stevens said that he read about the database on some hacker forums. “The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken,” wrote Sony on the PlayStation Network blog. However the company did not want to rule out that the hackers have obtained credit card data.

[NYT]

The Credit Card Information On The PlayStation Network Was Encrypted

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:48:11 +0000

Sony Corporation has provided an update about the PlayStation Network situation on their blog. A hacker penetrated their network between April 17 and April 19 and had obtained the personal information about a lot of users. One of the biggest questions that people had was whether their credit cards were taken. Sony provided the following response.

While all credit card information stored in our systems is encrypted and there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained. Keep in mind, however that your credit card security code (sometimes called a CVC or CSC number) has not been obtained because we never requested it from anyone who has joined the PlayStation Network or Qriocity, and is therefore not stored anywhere in our system.

[PlayStation Blog]