Anonymous strikes again

[durkada]

I doubt it was Anonymous, proper.

I assumed that this outage was a major security breach, where personal information has been compromised. If this is the case, I suspect they only confirmed it on Wednesday.

A DDoS would, generally speaking, still see the network up and running in some flavor. Not least of which is because you need to interpret the behavior in order to prevent it -- harder to do off-line, unless they have sufficient captures. Even then, taking it off-line would be silly.

But, to add some more fear and paranoia to this, my credit card, for the first time, has been compromised. I got a call this morning. The irony is that the guy bought an XBOX Live account, and this is what triggered the financial institution.

I'm a gamer, and it would not, should not, scare a bank to see XBOX Live stuff hit my account. So, to tweak it a little bit, I further suspect that there has been a slew of XBOX Live accounts fraudulently purchased in the last couple days, and thus this purchase hits a well defined profile.

Just guessing, but very suspicious. Legally, we (as individuals) have to be informed by Sony that this information was compromised.

[noiseredux]

By the very nature of the group, it's difficult to take a blanket denial of responsibility from Anonymous seriously.

The thing that sucks is that Sony is probably going to move towards taking the Playstation Network closer to the Microsoft model where you have to tie yourself down with contracts to get your games online. If they have to revamp the entire PSN in order to make the network more stable and secure, they'll probably look at making their PSN plus model mandatory in order to recoup losses.

Microsoft offers a really robust online gaming experience but for someone like me who just wants to spar with friends from time to time, paying a hefty annual fee is a real turn off. Hence the attractive nature of Nintendo and Sony's limited-but-free online experience.

Pretty much no matter what happens from here on out, it's the gamers that are going to lose.

wouldn't it figure that the PSN would stop being free the month I get a PS3?

[brunoafh]

Sony has answered some of VGrevolution.com's questions about the issue.

1) When will service return?
We were told 1 to 2 days but that was 3 days ago. It’s understandable that the downtime and fix might take time but gamers would like a window of time.

SCEA: We will announce through our websites as soon as there are any updates. We are currently investigating to determine the cause of this outage and are working to restore and maintain the services. Since this is an overall security related issue, we will not be providing further commentary for this case.

2) Will Playstation Plus subscribers be reimbursed for downtime?
Sony rolled out this great subscription service which while doesn’t give extra online play, but does offer access to games that require downloads. For 4 days us Playstation Plus subscribers have not been able to download or access full game trials and other content that we have paid for.

SCEA: We will let our subscribers know as soon as there are updates.

3) Is our personal information safe?
The first thing Sony should have investigated and informed us about is, if the hackers were able to access user personal information including credit card numbers. At this point we should know from Sony if our personal information is safe, and if it isn’t, then it’s only right that we know so we can take our own protective measures.

SCEA: We are currently investigating the matter, and will notify as soon as there are any updates.

http://www.vgrevolution.com/2011/04/tim ... -downtime/

[Dylan]

Sony has answered some of VGrevolution.com's questions about the issue.

Well, "answered" is one way to look at it.

[noiseredux]

Sony has answered some of VGrevolution.com's questions about the issue.

Well, "answered" is one way to look at it.

haha really. All of those answers were basically just this:

1) When will service return?
We were told 1 to 2 days but that was 3 days ago. It’s understandable that the downtime and fix might take time but gamers would like a window of time.

SCEA:

2) Will Playstation Plus subscribers be reimbursed for downtime?
Sony rolled out this great subscription service which while doesn’t give extra online play, but does offer access to games that require downloads. For 4 days us Playstation Plus subscribers have not been able to download or access full game trials and other content that we have paid for.

SCEA:

3) Is our personal information safe?
The first thing Sony should have investigated and informed us about is, if the hackers were able to access user personal information including credit card numbers. At this point we should know from Sony if our personal information is safe, and if it isn’t, then it’s only right that we know so we can take our own protective measures.

SCEA:

[brunoafh]

True, but I found their response to the 3rd question kind of unsettling.

[Niode]

haha really. All of those answers were basically just this:

1) When will service return?
We were told 1 to 2 days but that was 3 days ago. It’s understandable that the downtime and fix might take time but gamers would like a window of time.

SCEA: Go fuck yourself

2) Will Playstation Plus subscribers be reimbursed for downtime?
Sony rolled out this great subscription service which while doesn’t give extra online play, but does offer access to games that require downloads. For 4 days us Playstation Plus subscribers have not been able to download or access full game trials and other content that we have paid for.

SCEA: Go fuck yourself, you're getting nothing from us. BITCH!

3) Is our personal information safe?
The first thing Sony should have investigated and informed us about is, if the hackers were able to access user personal information including credit card numbers. At this point we should know from Sony if our personal information is safe, and if it isn’t, then it’s only right that we know so we can take our own protective measures.

SCEA: Go fuck yourself

Fixed that for you.

[Flake]

I think Niode might be onto something...

[Niode]

I mean, I'm not being serious about that last post, but if they really are taking this opaque stance on whether OUR details are safe just isn't on. The first thing you do is notify customers of the breach. It's our right to know. It's their obligation as a company to notify us under the Data Protection Act. This is the sort of thing I'm talking about with just how poor Sony's customer service is.

[Flake]

I mean, I'm not being serious about that last post, but if they really are taking this opaque stance on whether OUR details are safe just isn't on. The first thing you do is notify customers of the breach. It's our right to know. It's their obligation as a company to notify us under the Data Protection Act. This is the sort of thing I'm talking about with just how poor Sony's customer service is.

No, I think you're 100% right on.

Am I the only one who is starting to think that Sony is putting themselves in prime position to be supplanted by Nintendo as the primary platform for Jp software? I mean, is this the same company that brought us the PS1 and PS2? What the hell is going on with this company?