The Great 2011 PSN Outage Megathread *Post 1 updated*

AIR-AUSSIE

PS EU Blog

On Tuesday, April 26 we shared that some information that was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. Once again, we’d like to apologize to the many users who were inconvenienced and worried about this situation.
We want to state this again given the increase in speculation about credit card information being used fraudulently. One report indicated that a group tried to sell millions of credit card numbers back to Sony. To my knowledge there is no truth to this report of a list, or that Sony was offered an opportunity to purchase the list.
One other point to clarify is from this weekend’s press conference. While the passwords that were stored were not “encrypted,” they were transformed using a cryptographic hash function. There is a difference between these two types of security measures which is why we said the passwords had not been encrypted. But I want to be very clear that the passwords were not stored in our database in cleartext form. For a description of the difference between encryption and hashing, follow this link.
To reiterate a few other security measures for your information: Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well. To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports.
We continue to work with law enforcement and forensic experts to identify the criminals behind the attack. Once again, we apologize for causing users concern over this matter.
Our objective is to increase security so our customers can safely and confidently play games and use our network and media services. We will continue to provide updates as we have them.

STILL no mention of a time frame.

gstar

I think the idea for the return of the PSN was that it would be back for north america today - considering the time difference to the west coast where presumably they are based, it wouldnt be the morning yet. Id imagine they will stagger it too. i would guess that the entire psn worldwide community loggin in at the same time would play havok, given that there is going to be a large FW patch/update to download, toghether with ppl wanting to reset their user details via the Account Management facility. phased reintroduction would make perfect sense here.

My 2c on the PS+ freebie is that its a little bit of cheeky advertising, but they dont really have much else they can offer us (cos we dont have to pay for anything). They are already offering us a (selected!) download - just this alone was never gonna please all the ppl, and i guess there would be no way they would just lodge funds to ppls accounts e.g. €5 or something, cos if this was the case, Id have about €40 to spend, it wouldnt be cost efficient for them.

Re the PS+ in fairness they should have given us a month free subscription when it launched. I havent doled out any money for it yet cos I havent been shown its benefits. If they truely believe its worth ppl parting cash for then they shouldn't have an issue with offering a trial period and now that they are Im happy with that.... and if i like it i might just buy it, whereas i wouldnt have bothered otherwise.

Im delighted to be getting anything free out of Sony, ive not really lost anything that yet has a quantifyable value. I never used my precise personal details when setting up my account so the hackers have actually stolen bogus info from me and ive already cancelled a credit card for a new number.

Overall I feel quite ok about it now, just looking forward to getting back online so i can sync my trophies and get my Uncharted 2 plat :cool:

Azure_sky

The 1 month PSN offer would be ok if we had a PSN store as good as the US PSN store, there's some great offers on PS1 import Japanese shoot em ups at half price, but from what I can remember the E.U. PSN offers are not great.

As for the free game, well it's a bit silly to make it a selected game. Many people may already have it. Why not give a credit voucher so people can choose, or at least give more than one option as the selected game to decrease the liklihood of people already owning it? Let me guess what it will be, Crash Bandicoot for PS1. If they offer a PS Mini game...

gstar

Azure_sky wrote: »

As for the free game, well it's a bit silly to make it a selected game. Many people may already have it. Why not give a credit voucher so people can choose, or at least give more than one option as the selected game to decrease the liklihood of people already owning it? Let me guess what it will be, Crash Bandicoot for PS1. If they offer a PS Mini game...

Actually now that i think of it that was another reason i never bought ps+ cos the free games for it were wipeout HD and LBP, both of which i owned. Id say its likely they will let you download 1 game from a limited choice of pre-selected games. hopefully it will be something half decent and not a mini or PS1 port, which are generally pretty poor!

Id say the voucher would be a risky venture for the reasons mentioned already, but id be over the moon if they did do it, cos id revive all my old accounts and pillage the store for free games!

eddhorse

Azure_sky wrote: »

The 1 month PSN offer would be ok if we had a PSN store as good as the US PSN store, there's some great offers on PS1 import Japanese shoot em ups at half price, but from what I can remember the E.U. PSN offers are not great.

As for the free game, well it's a bit silly to make it a selected game. Many people may already have it. Why not give a credit voucher so people can choose, or at least give more than one option as the selected game to decrease the liklihood of people already owning it? Let me guess what it will be, Crash Bandicoot for PS1. If they offer a PS Mini game...

Two good points, the US store is way better IMO.
You are correct about a selected game, that could cause an issue. But even €5 for each account would cost them a fortune....

ZorbaTehZ

Not sure if this has been posted, but there was a second breach, discovered yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/03/sony-data-breach-online-entertainment

Klair88

ZorbaTehZ wrote: »

Not sure if this has been posted, but there was a second breach, discovered yesterday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/03/sony-data-breach-online-entertainment

Surely that wouldn't have an impact on the PSN Network would it? It says its a PC network breach. With a bit of luck the PSN restoration timeline hasn't been affected.. were so close to having it back!

curryman

Posted on facebook

Sony PlayStation Ireland
Hi all, please bear in mind that at the press conference in Tokyo on Sunday it was stated that PSN would resume service within a week but no specific day or date was announced. We have no further update since then but will of course keep you posted as soon as we know more.

Looks like it will be more like late in the week before PSN is back

Leeg17

You're kidding me :mad::mad::mad::(

Sephiroth_dude

aw lads.....this is disapointing

Retr0gamer

WolfForager wrote: »

If MS that were the ones who had been hacked and they offered one month of XBL Gold as "compensation", would you be saying the same thing?

Yeah I would. There was a few days of down time one december and we got a free game though so it was handled a lot differently.

Kersmash

ALL I WANT IS SOME PORTAL2 CO-OP. That's all. I dont care about anything else.

tonydude

Starting to become a joke at this stage, compensation such as a game means nothing, we want to play the games which we bought, hope Sony get hit very hard for this bull

Kylo Ren

Are there and countries with the PSN up lads?

WolfForager

http://ispsnstilldown.com/

shinzon

Klair88 wrote: »

Surely that wouldn't have an impact on the PSN Network would it? It says its a PC network breach. With a bit of luck the PSN restoration timeline hasn't been affected.. were so close to having it back!

Guess whose just received a mail to say his details were compromised in the PC network Breach used to play Star wars galaxies back in the day this ****ing never ends

GAH

Shin

Varik

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Yeah I would. There was a few days of down time one december and we got a free game though so it was handled a lot differently.

In that case it just failure from over worked server and not due to outside interference,
It was also at a much worse time of the year.

Won't be near psn for a month so don't care too much, not like psn will get worse in the end.

Battleflag

Kersmash wrote: »

ALL I WANT IS SOME PORTAL2 CO-OP. That's all. I dont care about anything else.

me too! Nearing the end of the game I think and then want to start co-op!!

NotorietyH

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Yeah I would. There was a few days of down time one december and we got a free game though so it was handled a lot differently.

Yeah and Sony are giving a one month PS Plus access and a free game so I'm not sure what your point is.

Klair88

shinzon wrote: »

Guess whose just received a mail to say his details were compromised in the PC network Breach used to play Star wars galaxies back in the day this ****ing never ends

GAH

Shin

That sucks, getting hit with a double whammy but what i was saying is that hopefully the PC network attack wont effect or delay the restoration of the PSN network, would hate to wait another week. I think they're different servers though so like i said 'Hopefully'!!

Desire.

Keno 92 wrote: »

Are there and countries with the PSN up lads?

Japan, apparently.

Azure_sky

I'm guessing we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning.

Leeg17

Azure_sky wrote: »

I'm guessing we'll have to wait until tomorrow morning.

Source that it might be then? Again Sony saying "sometime next [this] week", but then again they're saying we didn't give a specific date yada yada.

Bloody disgrace at this stage.

Mc Love

Anyone know if you can check if you are one of the user affected?

Kenno90

Mc Love wrote: »

Anyone know if you can check if you are one of the user affected?

We all are. Did you get an email.

NufcNavan

Just saw an ad for some Michael Jackson game on the PS3, which got me thinking.

If a person now wants to buy a console, who in their right mind would choose a PS3 over an Xbox? It's going to affect Sony in the long term big time...

WolfForager

NufcNavan wrote: »

Just saw an ad for some Michael Jackson game on the PS3, which got me thinking.

If a person now wants to buy a console, who in their right mind would choose a PS3 over an Xbox? It's going to affect Sony in the long term big time...

Better 1st party game line up would be one...

leemurta

Even if they give free ps plus, when the month is over we still lose the things we downloaded unless we subscribe them just looking for more money?

richymcdermott

leemurta wrote: »

Even if they give free ps plus, when the month is over we still lose the things we downloaded unless we subscribe them just looking for more money?

Ya can have discount of the games they offer if you planned on buying them you dont have to pay full price, ya get to try out the infamous 2 beta. If the plus offers a free game you beat it in a matter of days , ya dont have to get ps plus. At the end of the day its better than nothing .

ben101

WolfForager wrote: »

Why don't people ever read the full story? You can change your password as usual using your email address on the playstation website. Jesus, Sony aren't THAT bloody stupid.

Eh ,seems they are.
Unable to access via their website,says network unavailable.

shinzon

ben101 wrote: »

Eh ,seems they are.
Unable to access via their website,says network unavailable.

You wont be able to change your password on the website until the Playstation network is back up and running

Shin

Leeg17

ben101 wrote: »

Eh ,seems they are.
Unable to access via their website,says network unavailable.

You won't be able to change your password online (a feature of PSN) until PSN comes back.

Mayo_Boy

It's all a piss-take at this stage :mad:.
Sony should have had there system more secure in the first place so none of this could have happened.
Seriously thinking about changing to xbox but I only bought a ps3 slim over the xmas so I think I'll stick with it for another while and see what "improvements" they'll make to there network :pac:

Retr0gamer

NotorietyH wrote: »

Yeah and Sony are giving a one month PS Plus access and a free game so I'm not sure what your point is.

Couldn't care about the game, you can be gauranteed it will be crap. What bothers me is that Sony is using this as an advertising campaign under the guise of compensation. A crappy free game and a 1 month trial of a useless service is no compensation for their breach of trust with their customers and their disregard for the private data of their customers that have entrusted them to hold.

enviro

Can't understand why Microsoft have not come out with some marketing campaign to highlight their offerings to consumers, never before been a better opportunity for them to try convince consumers to switch their loyalty.

My PS just isnt the same without the online element. :mad:

Hurry up Sony for fcuk shake!, I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms

Daemos

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Couldn't care about the game, you can be gauranteed it will be crap. What bothers me is that Sony is using this as an advertising campaign under the guise of compensation. A crappy free game and a 1 month trial of a useless service is no compensation for their breach of trust with their customers and their disregard for the private data of their customers that have entrusted them to hold.

So what exactly do you want them to do?

NotorietyH

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Couldn't care about the game, you can be gauranteed it will be crap. What bothers me is that Sony is using this as an advertising campaign under the guise of compensation. A crappy free game and a 1 month trial of a useless service is no compensation for their breach of trust with their customers and their disregard for the private data of their customers that have entrusted them to hold.

Yeah well it isn't a useless service for starters. I'm not sure exactly what you expect them to do? I get the feeling if they added something else to the list you'd complain about that not being enough too. Does Kaz Hirai have to commit Seppuku on stage at E3 or something? Sony, along with us, were victims of a criminal act, and while they haven't handled it perfectly, I'm not quite as inclined to rake them over the coals for a what is really only a few days inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.

I swear Sony's handling of the breach was annoying but nowhere near as annoying as the hyperbolic fury that I've seen spouted all over the internet.

Of course I would say that though because I'm not actually NotorietyH, I'm the person that stole his identity and sold his credit card into slavery.

Grayditch

I can understand why people are annoyed at Sony and don't want to ever trust them with personal info again. I mean, I'll be back playing PS3 online next week hopefully, topping up with cards, but their reputation has take a knock.

Stories of people selling their PS3 and some of the things people are saying about Sony are cringey though.

Grayditch

Also, cloud saves, betas and random games. I like PS+

NotorietyH

Grayditch wrote: »

Also, cloud saves, betas and random games. I like PS+

Day one discounts on games and DLC too don't forget. Far from a useless service.

After all is said and done I'd imagine Sony will have the most secure network out there. As they say the safest day to fly is the day after a plane crash.

brian plank

Retr0gamer wrote: »

Couldn't care about the game, you can be gauranteed it will be crap. What bothers me is that Sony is using this as an advertising campaign under the guise of compensation. A crappy free game and a 1 month trial of a useless service is no compensation for their breach of trust with their customers and their disregard for the private data of their customers that have entrusted them to hold.

:rolleyes:

Mr.Saturn

I read this funny thing from a guy on Racketboy, went along the lines of there's now more Dreamcasts online than PS3s, and then I realized it was true.....

jimbob86

so is it meant to be back on 2moro or what??

Sephiroth_dude

jimbob86 wrote: »

so is it meant to be back on 2moro or what??

I'll eat my hat if it is

Varik

Anyone want to make a guess at the game?

It'll probably be something 1st party instead of paying someone else for it, can't really think of any.

Any game that has already been given out with plus shouldn't be likely.

If Sony are trying to make the most out of this having a game that will advertise for a squeal in the near future could affect the choice, would also limit the loss if sales would be dropping with a sequel around.

NotorietyH

Varik wrote: »

Anyone want to make a guess at the game?

It'll probably be something 1st party instead of paying someone else for it, can't really think of any.

Any game that has already been given out with plus shouldn't be likely.

If Sony are trying to make the most out of this having a game that will advertise for a squeal in the near future could affect the choice, would also limit the loss if sales would be dropping with a sequel around.

Maybe something like Pixeljunker Shooter?

Varik

NotorietyH wrote: »

Maybe something like Pixeljunker Shooter?

They'll have to deal with age ratings probably as well, can't be giving underage kids violent games.

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

I'll eat my hat if it is

Keeping a record of this so you can't ninja edit your way out of it.

Retr0gamer

Daemos wrote: »

So what exactly do you want them to do?

A bit of transparency would be nice. How did this happen? Why the hell wasn't the data encrypted and why weren't the passwords encrypted properly? How the hell did they manage to mess up so catastrophically with their security? Also what are they doing to make us trust them again considering how terribly negligent Sony has been in the past about customers personal data security? I'm sorry but I can't be as forgiving for something that is probably a huge breach of the data protection act. People are saying that Sony is the victim here but part of the blame is Sonys fault because of their negligent security measures. People trusted them with their personal details and Sony failed them. There's a contract for Sony to provide a service to their customers which includes the security of their personal details and Sony have breached it. I'd be much more forgiving if Sony was upfront about what is happening but their clandestine approach and how late they are with announcements about it is ridiculous. The fact that they are using this as an oppurtunity to show off their premium service is sickening to me. It will take much more than a months PSN+ and a game to appease me but what I do want won't cost Sony anything but they won't give it.

keithc83

Varik wrote: »

Anyone want to make a guess at the game?

It'll probably be something 1st party instead of paying someone else for it, can't really think of any.

Any game that has already been given out with plus shouldn't be likely.

If Sony are trying to make the most out of this having a game that will advertise for a squeal in the near future could affect the choice, would also limit the loss if sales would be dropping with a sequel around.

I don't know about the game itself but considering they are going to give it free to everyone effected, it's definitely going to be some game that's cheap for them to distribute in this way. Something most people would never buy in a million years so don't be expecting much!

Varik

“make good” plan has started DCUO players have started to get ingame stuff.