PSN Down

[Corris Veteran]

Saw this on Reddit, take it how you want I guess.

I'm a moderator over at PSX-Scene.com

Ok, I've seen a bunch of speculation of why people think PSN is down, and I thought I should just post what the community knows in comparison to what Sony is telling everyone.

The truth is, there was a new CFW (custom firmware) released known as Rebug (http://rebug.me).

It essentially turns a retail console into a dev console (not fully, but gives you a lot of the same options that usually dev's only have access to). Anyway, this new CFW was quickly figured out to give CFW users access to the PSN network again via the dev networks. With a little manipulation of the URL's through a proxy server you could get your hacked console back online. Not that big of a deal, right?

Well, it also turns out that some people over at NGU found out that you could provide fake CC# info and the authenticity of the information was never checked as you were on Sony's private developer PSN network (essentially a network that Sony trusted).

What happened next was extreme piracy of PSN content. Sony realizing the issue here shut down the network.

Now, before you go freaking out about the latest information posted about Kotaku, no ones personal information was accessible via this hack. Not to say they couldn't get it, but no one is admitting to it being available. Anyway, that's the real reason for the PSN downtime. Sony is now rebuilding all of it's PSN servers to be more secure and (hopefully) make sure the CFW users cannot get online anymore.

True or not, that story makes sense for the "External Intrusion" story we've gotten so far.

I'd still take anything anyone says outside of Sony with a rather large grain of salt.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

If true that is incredibly shoddy, but who would expect anything else from the Linux Homebrew geeks right? Deserves to be shut down, pain in the arse such nonsense keeps us off of PSN.

[Hedon]

Time to update signature :)

[rajputwarrior]

Time update signature :)

i like it.

[shakey]

Saw this on Reddit, take it how you want I guess.

True or not, that story makes sense for the "External Intrusion" story we've gotten so far.

I'd still take anything anyone says outside of Sony with a rather large grain of salt.

If this is the case, maybe it would be a good idea for Sony to separate the Store from other Online functions. If piracy of the store is the issue, why not still give at least online gaming access to the users? If they can't, this is something I hope they are "re-building". If users could still play games right now, there would be little to no complaints. Sad that such action from the smallest minority of users has affected everyone.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Well my canary has shutdown on me as of today because management (at SCE) is undergoing serious pains right now regarding the PSN SHUTDOWN, yesterday we talk and he told me that people should not be worried about their credit card info being stolen because, supposedly, SONY has checked and nothing was retrieve but it seems that the personal information of the users has actually been retreived, only a fraction of users though. And the same that they have estimates that by thursday the PSN will be up. That was all, he told me that he will try to give me a memo so that i could leaked it, but lets see if he keeps his word.

Oh and the last thing he told me is that SONY is going to prepare a full press release with exact and detailed information about the reason of the PSN Shutdown.

EDIT: Oh and supposedly SONY will lunch a new firmware update and new PSN TOS, don?t know if will be with the lunch of the PSN or by the week, but is a confirmed thing that SONY will lunch a new firmware and new PSN TOS before the ending month. Again this is what he told me.

From the GAF.

[Hedon]

GAF is the last place I would get anything news that is reliable.

[MightyJordan]

GAF is the last place I would get anything news that is reliable.

I've registered to NeoGAF (thanks to the Facebook email, seeing as they hate Gmail), but I never go on there, but don't a few developers hang out on NeoGAF? Maybe someone from Sony actually posts on there? Wild guess, I know.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

I've registered to NeoGAF (thanks to the Facebook email, seeing as they hate Gmail), but I never go on there, but don't a few developers hang out on NeoGAF? Maybe someone from Sony actually posts on there? Wild guess, I know.

I only posted it as people on GAF are vouching for the person who posted it. And yes, there is a lot of knowledgeable people/developers/insiders on the GAF, naturally, as it's the biggest gaming forum out there.

[CentralDogma]

From the GAF.

Sony Yet to Determine Scope of PlayStation Network Attack

Sony has yet to determine the full scope of an attack on its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services that has left more than 75 million people without access for more than four days.

The company is conducting a "thorough investigation" into the outage, said Satoshi Fukuoka, a spokesman for Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo. He declined to provide more information about the nature of the problem, which Sony has blamed on an "external intrusion" into the network.

He also said the company has not yet determined if the personal information or credit card numbers of users have been compromised, but that Sony would promptly inform users if it found that was the case.

Monday's update provides no information about when the service might be available again.

The PlayStation Network is used for PlayStation 3 online gaming and sales of software to consoles and the PlayStation Portable. The Qriocity service runs on the same network infrastructure and provides audio and video to Sony consumer electronics products.

The biggest impact of the service loss has likely been on PlayStation 3 users, who were unable to play online games over the weekend. Networked gaming, in which gamers collaborate with others in real-time battles, challenges and quests, is very popular and typically enjoyed by millions.

On Sunday, the company said it was rebuilding its network to better guard against any future attacks and asked customers to have "a little more patience" while it completes the "time-consuming" task. Sony had said two days earlier that a fix would take ""a day or two," but that loose deadline has already been missed.

The outage is the most serious faced by the service since it began in 2006.

Link

[Pupik]

"has not yet determined if the personal information or credit card numbers of users have been compromised, but that Sony would promptly inform users if it found that was the case."

Can you do anything now, except canceling the credit card?

[Hedon]

I've registered to NeoGAF (thanks to the Facebook email, seeing as they hate Gmail), but I never go on there, but don't a few developers hang out on NeoGAF? Maybe someone from Sony actually posts on there? Wild guess, I know.

I have been there posting for over 10 years and it's a pretty sad place. I stay for morbid curiosity. We have seen devs there, but we have seen devs at almost every popular forum. There are many more devs posting at Xbox.com forums and Playstation.com forums.

[DPyro]

An update.

This has nothing to do with Anonymous or Geohotz and everything to do with the CFW Rebug. It allowed people to connect to sp-int and dev servers and even DOWNLOAD DLC and pirated apps using fake CC credentials. Thus Sony has switched the servers off and is trying to lead people to believe this has something to do with Anonymous 'hackers'.

[shakey]

An update.

This has nothing to do with Anonymous or Geohotz and everything to do with the CFW Rebug. It allowed people to connect to sp-int and dev servers and even DOWNLOAD DLC and pirated apps using fake CC credentials. Thus Sony has switched the servers off and is trying to lead people to believe this has something to do with Anonymous 'hackers'.

They haven't lead anyone to believe anything other than what has actually happened. They only said External Intrusion, which is what this was. They didn't want to say exactly how, because then there would be a flood of people trying to get free crap and CFW.

[Corris Veteran]

An update.

This has nothing to do with Anonymous or Geohotz and everything to do with the CFW Rebug. It allowed people to connect to sp-int and dev servers and even DOWNLOAD DLC and pirated apps using fake CC credentials. Thus Sony has switched the servers off and is trying to lead people to believe this has something to do with Anonymous 'hackers'.

I already posted this earlier as to why it was down because they turned everything off to stop people stealing from PSN, and also Sony haven't as far as I know come out and said anything about Geohotz or Anon or any hacker getting into their system, they haven't tried to lead anyone on about anything, and have very much stayed quiet about it.

[soniqstylz]

Rumours about the current situation regarding the PlayStation Network outage are spreading like wildfire. This could well be due to Sony Computer Entertainment being very tight-lipped about the situation, unwilling to offer comment beyond that most necessary ?we?re working on it?. However, a source close to the situation is much more optimistic.

As one of the biggest talking points in the videogame industry at present, there?s a constant debate about why the service has been restricted, how long it will take to return and in what form it will appear when it does come back online. A representative of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), who made it clear he himself was not working on the issue, has this morning informed Electronic Theatre that the team currently working on restoring the PlayStation Network are aiming to have consumer access back online tomorrow. However, there are no guarantees at this point.

?I know there?s a lot of disappointed gamers out there, but people don?t realise how much issues like this affect the people behind the scenes too,? stated our contact via e-mail. ?The amount of man-hours that has gone into restoring the [PlayStation Network] asap is practically insane.?

Our contact was keen to reiterate that he himself is not working on restoring the PlayStation Network, but instead was close to members of the team. Electronic Theatre will keep you updated with all the latest details on the ongoing PlayStation network downtime.

http://www.electronictheatre.co.uk/index.php/playstation3/playstation3-news/7890-playstation-network-expected-to-resume-service-tomorrow

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

?I know there?s a lot of disappointed gamers out there, but people don?t realise how much issues like this affect the people behind the scenes too,? stated our contact via e-mail. ?The amount of man-hours that has gone into restoring the [PlayStation Network] asap is practically insane.?

Well it does suck for those people when they get home, go online, and find hundreds of people basically saying they're lazy incompetent money grabbing bitches. Worked in CS and Sales for 2 years and probably only got a handful of sincere thank you comments aimed at me. That's just the way it works though lol.

6 days (so far) is a very small percentage out of a whole year for what is clearly not a trivial issue or something brought about in a careless fashion, but yes, I do admit it's annoying and frustrating. However the drama that entails/surrounds outages like this is chaotic, Sony really need to try harder to squash the crappy rumours and misinformation that have arisen.

I think they've spoken out enough (although as above maybe not in enough detail), however a full PR statement pending please, while it may be policy not to share everything just now for obvious reasons once the servers are back up I expect to know what's changed and why.

Skynet was supposed to become self-aware on April 21st, 2011 which is the day AFTER PSN went offline.

The intrusion was coming from inside the system, the PSN was becoming self-aware so Sony took it offline before it could.

Sony has saved all of mankind.

lol

[BoredBozirini]

Says a lot about SONY's networking team.

[Minifig]

This doesn't sound good.. :wacko:

On Monday, the Japanese electronics giant said it is keeping its PlayStation Network videogame service offline indefinitely following a hacking attack it now says may have compromised user?s information.

[GuJu]

I guess the xboxlive membership is worth it.

#getwhatyoupayfor

[Minifig]

I guess the xboxlive membership is worth it.

#getwhatyoupayfor

Stop trolling, it's not like a hack could take down XBox Live or anything. :crazy:

[LiquidSolstice]

Stop trolling, it's not like a hack could take down XBox Live or anything. :crazy:

Yeah, with all due respect, I can't remember the last time XBL was down at all, much less down due to a hack.

In a different aspect, perhaps a slightly more positive one, perhaps this online downtime will give a lot of people some much-needed appreciation for offline single-player campaigns.

[DPyro]

The PSN is not down because of a hack, it's down because Sony are morons in security and shut the PSN off.

[LiquidSolstice]

The PSN is not down because of a hack, it's down because Sony are morons in security and shut the PSN off.

I'm pretty sure "external intrusion" counts as a hack, because we don't really have proof otherwise.

[rajputwarrior]

^ because people found a way to buy PSN stuff for free, which SHOULD be completely seperate from being able to log on and just play a game, but like mentioned before, sony is dumb.

Yeah, with all due respect, I can't remember the last time XBL was down at all, much less down due to a hack.

In a different aspect, perhaps a slightly more positive one, perhaps this online downtime will give a lot of people some much-needed appreciation for offline single-player campaigns.

seriously, you don't remember it going down for almost a month and a half 2 years ago during xmas? i couldn't access my xbox live profile for almost three months cause of that stupid ish.

go away troll, this topic is about the PSN outage, not a comparision of you get what you pay for BS.