PlayStation Network down in EU and US

[dan-ger-ous]

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation Network is down in both Europe and the US.

The EU PlayStation Blog tweeted the following message: "PSN is currently down for maintenance. We'll update you with timeframes as soon as we can."

The US PlayStation Blog posted a similar message saying it will report back with any updates.

The PlayStation Network was reportedly attacked by hactivist group Anonymous earlier this month with the group releasing a statement soon after saying that it had suspended that line of attack.

'Maintenance' is cited by the US as what's causing the PSN disruption. Let us know if you're experience problems logging on.

 

[axxxo]

Havent heard of "maintenance" affecting the whole world before lol
Maybe there putting measures in place to prevent these sort of attacks although this normally encourages these groups to try even harder!

 

[dan-ger-ous]

Ah! Just got back after a long afternoon and i thought i'd check Playstations website, but it looks like PSN is still down, maintainance my ***! They are probably just upgrading their security as you've said axxxo, they would normally inform PSN users before the downtime instead of jumping right into it.

Update:

What started as a sporadic outage last night has turned into a full-blown crash. Sony has confirmed PlayStation Network is down across the U.S. and Europe, and the company is currently investigating if the outage is being caused by an outside party.

Posting on the U.S. PlayStation Blog last night, Communications Director Patrick Seybold wrote that Sony was aware "certain functions" of PSN were down. Those certain functions are still down, and now the rest of the PlayStation 3's online network is as well.

"As you are no doubt aware, the current emergency outage is continuing this afternoon and all Sony Online Network services remain unavailable," Sony Computer Entertainment Europe PS blog manager James Gallagher posted today. "Our support teams are investigating the cause of the problem, including the possibility of targeted behavior by an outside party. If the reported Network problems are indeed caused by such acts, we would like to once again thank our customers who have borne the brunt of the attack through interrupted service."

Hacker activist group Anonymous appeared to pull back from its war on Sony after a protest it organized at Sony Stores around the world over the weekend fizzled. However, the group previously promised its biggest attack yet was still to come, and many immediately linked today's outage to Anon. However, writing on the Operation Sony Facebook page, Anonymous made it clear it is not behind the attack:

"ATTENTION: For everyone coming here complaining about the PSN or inquiring about it,

We Do Not Know What Happened

This is not the work of Anonymous."

Sony said its engineers are continuing to work to resolve the problems and updates will be provided throughout the day on PlayStation.com, the PlayStation blog, and the PlayStation twitter feed. Most recently, Seybold posted on the PlayStation blog at 12:30 p.m. EST that it "may be a full day or two before we're able to get the service completely back up and running."

 

[dan-ger-ous]

Checkmate..!

Sony PSN Outage Update: External Intrusion The Cause

Oh dear Sony, a few days with no access to the PSN and already people are struggling to hide their anger at not being able to feed their Call of Duty addictions! To be fair to them there has been a few updates on the PlayStation Blog letting everyone know what stage they are at.

We first reported that it was a bit of a bad day for it to start as it was the launch day of the new Mortal Kombat 9 game but luckily this sort of game isn’t too heavily based around online play. There was a second report added to let you know the PlayStation blog has been providing regular updates on the situation and now we have just heard more about the Sony PSN Outage in an update, external intrusion is the cause!

Bad news for Sony as it seems Skynet has begun infiltration… Just kidding, the fact that the network has been compromised means that Sony is going to have to conduct a full thorough investigation. The update on the PlayStation blog mentions that they are doing all they can to resolve the situation quickly and are thanking you for your patience.

The fact that the network is still down will undoubtedly lead to further taunting from the Xbox 360 players who are sitting on their sofa’s happily shooting each other on Black Ops but what it will make you do is play those offline campaigns or perhaps get out of the house a bit more!

Could this be the work of a hacker group protesting against the actions Sony has taken against GeoHot? We hope that the juicy details are released when the issues are fixed. What will you do instead of playing your PlayStation online?

 

[dan-ger-ous]

Guys, this is an all time low for Sony! Absolutely disgusting! I'm now worried..

Sony has warned users of its PlayStation Network that their personal information, including credit card details, may have been stolen.

The company said that the data might have fallen into the hands of an "unauthorised person" following a hacking attack on its online service.

Access to the network was suspended last Wednesday, but Sony has only now revealed details of what happened.

Users are being warned to look out for attempted telephone and e-mail scams.

In a statement posted on the official PlayStation blog, Nick Caplin, the company's head of communications for Europe, said: "We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network".

The blog posting lists the personal information that Sony believes has been taken.

Name
Address (city, state/province, zip or postal code)
Country
E-mail address
Date of birth
PlayStation Network/Qriocity passwords and login
Handle/PSN online ID
Mr Caplin added: "It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained.

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

Credit cards
Sony admitted that credit card information, used to purchase games, films and music, may also have been stolen.

"While there is no evidence that credit card data was taken at this time, we cannot rule out the possibility," Mr Caplin said.

"If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, to be on the safe side we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may also have been obtained."

Sony has not given any indication of how many PlayStation Network users may have had their information taken, but the service has around 70 million members worldwide.

'PR Disaster'
The theft of so much detailed customer data would be seen as a "public relations disaster", according to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at security firm Sophos.

"This is a big one," he told BBC News.

"The PlayStation Network is a real consumer product. It is in lots of homes all over the world.

"The impact of this could be much greater than your typical internet hack."

Mr Cluley warned that, even without credit card details, the information taken was enough to help criminals carry out further attacks on other services.

"Some people will use the same passwords on other sites. If I was a hacker right now, I would be taking those e-mail addresses and trying those passwords," he said.

More Here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13192359

 

[greensman]

There is more to this than meets the eye if you ask me. ;) I think that Sony will have to rebuild their Network no doubt but what about the "expense" to the Sony user/customer?? I see Sony charging for the service from here out... just like M$ does for XboX Live. :) That would make some very happy Sony users move to other platforms or just b!tch like all the XboX users do.... LOL

One thing I guarantee is that Sony will pass the cost on to the customer..... either from a "fee" or an "increase" in product cost. ;)

 

[dan-ger-ous]

That had completely passed my mind GM, totally ignored the bigger picture behind this all. So much for making a newer console to provide a cheaper option for consumers.

 

[greensman]

That had completely passed my mind GM, totally ignored the bigger picture behind this all. So much for making a newer console to provide a cheaper option for consumers.

Dan don't dismiss a "cheaper" or "less expensive" console for this but be assured that Sony will recoop their "expenses" somehow. ;) I just can't believe that they've been letting their console "owners" reign free within the scope of the internet. It actually baffles me that Sony (a true money whore monger) hasn't seen this picture from the beginning... H3LL XboX has had patrons pay for the service for years.... at about $59 per household or $54 per user for years now.... why wouldn't Sony want to engage in some "free" enterprise as well??? lol. How many users do they have now online?? Let's say 5 million.. if they loose 1 million to a $20 fee thats ok... the consumer still bought their console and then Sony added $80 MILLION in revenues over night!!!!! Who wouldn't do that??? I know I d@mn sure would!!!!! :cheesy grin:

 

[wheelo]

Oh you big cynic GM, not that you are not right, in fact you are spot on, any costs that their members throw back on them, bank charges, fees to check on their credit rating, compensation, etc. will, of course be ultimately be bourne by the customer. I don't know if they will go down the road of a subscription or not, as they seem to think that this is the major advantage they have over XBox, but the consumer will pay in the end

 

[sinno]

Dan don't dismiss a "cheaper" or "less expensive" console for this but be assured that Sony will recoop their "expenses" somehow. ;) I just can't believe that they've been letting their console "owners" reign free within the scope of the internet. It actually baffles me that Sony (a true money whore monger) hasn't seen this picture from the beginning... H3LL XboX has had patrons pay for the service for years.... at about $59 per household or $54 per user for years now.... why wouldn't Sony want to engage in some "free" enterprise as well??? lol. How many users do they have now online?? Let's say 5 million.. if they loose 1 million to a $20 fee thats ok... the consumer still bought their console and then Sony added $80 MILLION in revenues over night!!!!! Who wouldn't do that??? I know I d@mn sure would!!!!! :cheesy grin:

77 Million users greensman,to also top that Sony are about to introduce a new tablet to the market which our friend Geohot will not be allowed near since the settlement with Sony,now i wonder,conspiracy theories will be rife

 

[greensman]

77 Million users greensman,to also top that Sony are about to introduce a new tablet to the market which our friend Geohot will not be allowed near since the settlement with Sony,now i wonder,conspiracy theories will be rife

Good Lawdy mate.... never thought the total would be that high. :) So what do you think about them (Sony) charging a small fee for the service of their "PSN"??? I think it's a good idea personally but DON'T be greedy about it... I'm sure you'll loose some percentage of the populous to a fee but the "INCOME" involved is staggering if you ask me. :)

Geeeez...... if you loose 33% of those who are online to a $20 fee and the rest pay that fee then that's potentially $1 BILLION in revenue... they need to talk to the GM about this and give him a nominal fee for this idea.... LOL ..... Fecking ell.... I'd take 1/10 of 1%.... that's a MILLION for a simple idea... :cheesy grin: :faint: :cheesy grin: :faint:

 

[sinno]

Thats why PS3 is so popular,i personaly never bother with online,i rather beat myself than others,more fun that way,i think they should charge a nominal fee if only to tighten up the security of the service,there are rumours credit card information was being stolen as far back as february,not that long ago in date,but consider this,a text file with a couple of hundred numbers could be uploaded cross the world and be downloaded thousands of times in a few minutes

 

[j4v3d]

they will probably lose alot of customers now due to this

 

[axxxo]

one word...xbox :gamer:

 

[wheelo]

Oh Axxxo, such a gloater LOL Just a question, cos i really don't know. Do you pay for xbox live online, or do you buy cards like for itunes? either way i won't be buying. only free Wii for me, cos even the kids that visit my house can lash me out of it no matter the format (Wii, Xbox, PSP, DS). just realised how sucked into this gaming thing i have become, I now own 4 consoles and bought my first at the age of 37ish lol

 

[sinno]

I still remember my amstrad 464 with the tape deck and the game manic miner,the fun for me now is the exploits and making them work,i can still hold my own in the gaming even thou i dont play as much,i do miss Lara Croft games they were fun,incedently i got the trilogy on the PS3,I might just have a go later

 

[wheelo]

Sinno, the only reason i am not still playing my Spectrum 48, is that stereo tape decks won't load the games. I have one still pristine in the original box, with plenty of games. I recently found an emulator, and rediscovered "chucky egg", now that was the forefront of graphics lol

[video=youtube;MxHfNvJ332Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxHfNvJ332Y[/video]
FAST FORWARD TO 50 SECONDS OR SO

 

[sinno]

Wheelo,the tape deck was swapable in those if i remember correctly,now the original fanboy discussion is going,oh hang on commodore and amiga have to pop in next

 

[axxxo]

Do you pay for xbox live online, or do you buy cards like for itunes

You can do it both ways or search out the net on places like ebay and plenty of others for codes that can be sometimes half the price you would pay to the retailer or through the xbox itself.
Costs me about 40 euro for the year this year i think

 

[dan-ger-ous]

SOME PLAYSTATION NETWORK AND QRIOCITY SERVICES TO BE AVAILABLE THIS WEEK

Phased Global Rollout of Services to Begin Regionally; System Security Enhanced to Provide Greater Protection of Personal Information.

Tokyo, May 1, 2011 – Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) and Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI, the company) announced they will shortly begin a phased restoration by region of PlayStation®Network and Qriocity™ services, beginning with gaming, music and video services to be turned on. The company also announced both a series of immediate steps to enhance security across the network and a new customer appreciation program to thank its customers for their patience and loyalty.

Following a criminal cyber-attack on the company’s data-center located in San Diego, California, U.S.A., SNEI quickly turned off the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, engaged multiple expert information security firms over the course of several days and conducted an extensive audit of the system. Since then, the company has implemented a variety of new security measures to provide greater protection of personal information. SNEI and its third-party experts have conducted extensive tests to verify the security strength of the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. With these measures in place, SCE and SNEI plan to start a phased rollout by region of the services shortly. The initial phase of the rollout will include, but is not limited to, the following:

• Restoration of Online game-play across the PlayStation®3 (PS3) and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) systems
• This includes titles requiring online verification and downloaded games
• Access to Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3/PSP for existing subscribers
• Access to account management and password reset
• Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo
• PlayStation®Home
• Friends List
• Chat Functionality

MORE:

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/05/01/some-playstation-network-and-qriocity-services-to-be-available-this-week/