Sony Online Entertainment is Offline

Sony Online Entertainment said today it has temporarily turned off its servers after the company "discovered an issue" while investigating an intrusion into its system. It's unclear at this time if this incident is related to last month's intrusion of PlayStation Network.

"We had to temporarily take down SOE services during the night," a spokesperson said. "In the course of our investigation into the intrusion of our systems, we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern. We will provide an update later today."

No timetable was provided for when the services will be turned back on so all you DC Universe Online PC players out there are out of luck.

Source: IGN

Weekend, what are you playing?

We enter into the month of May and with the PlayStation Network still down, meaning that all PS3 owners have no online fun for 2 weekends now. Still, people nowadays usually have more than one means of playing a video game here or there. So, what are you playing this weekend? 

Migoy: Still fighting the good fight in Dissidia 012 Duodecim: Final Fantasy. 50+ hours in and halfway through Scenario 000. Grinding with other characters on Quick Party battles on the side. I have a few PSX titles on my PSP which I got before the great PSN crash of 2011. Also found a few older PSX titles such as the 3 Road Rash games and Harry Potter 1. A bit of nostalgia gaming. I also found a GameCube memory card at Datablitz which I bought in a heartbeat and tested it by revisiting Mortal Kombat Deception, that game controls like butt.

Quash: Finally sat down and finished Crysis 2 yesterday. It was a great game overall and i'm thinking of making a review about it. Since Crysis 2 is out of the way i think i'll continue with Portal 2, i just started and hoping to finish this too by today. It was said to be arund 6-8 hours long but of course it all depends if i fail in some of the test chambers.

Arlie: Still playing Patapon 3, I am using Yumiyacha (Ranged type) as my primary Uberhero class and switched it to Wondabarappa who shoots crap out of a magical tuba. I might finally start on Dissidia 012 Duodecim: Final Fantasy this week. I will also play and hopefully finish today the fourth episode of Back To The Future: The Game which is entitled "Double Visions".

Hackers selling PSN data of over 2.2 million users [4/29/2011]

There are rumors that the hackers have the personal info (names, addresses, creditcard numbers, etc) of over 2.2 million users and tried to sell it back to Sony but with no reply. So now they are trying to sell them the highest bidder.

From; http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com

Security researchers said Thursday that they had seen discussions on underground Internet forums indicating that the hackers who infiltrated the Sony PlayStation Network last week may have made off with the credit card numbers of Sony customers.

The comments indicated that the hackers had a database that included customer names, addresses, usernames, passwords and as many as 2.2 million credit card numbers, the researchers said.

Kevin Stevens, senior threat researcher at the security firm Trend Micro, said he had seen talk of the database on several hacker forums, including indications that the Sony hackers were hoping to sell the credit card list for upwards of $100,000. Mr. Stevens said one forum member told him the hackers had even offered to sell the data back to Sony but did not receive a response from the company.

Although several researchers confirmed the forum discussions, it was impossible to verify their contents or the existence of the database.

When asked about the hackers’ claims, Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications and social media at Sony, said, ”To my knowledge there is no truth to the report that Sony was offered an opportunity to purchase the list.” Mr. Seybold also pointed to a blog post Sony published Thursday that said: “The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken.” Sony has said that it could not rule out the possibility that hackers might have obtained credit card data.

“Sony is saying the credit cards were encrypted, but we are hearing that the hackers made it into the main database, which would have given them access to everything, including credit card numbers,” said Mathew Solnik, a security consultant with iSEC Partners who frequents hacker forums to track new hacks and vulnerabilities that could affect his clients. Mr. Solnik said that people on the forums had details about the servers used by Sony, which may indicate that they had direct knowledge of the attack.

Mr. Solnik said researchers believe that the hackers gained access to Sony’s database by hacking the PS3 console and from there infiltrating the company’s servers.

Dan Kaminsky, an independent Internet security specialist, said in a phone interview that he had also seen forum posts about a Sony credit card database, but he said he could not confirm who was behind the attack. “These attacks just keep getting larger and larger and larger,” he said. “The security measures technology companies employ today are just not robust enough.”

The San Diego office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is helping Sony with its inquiry into the hacking incident, declined to comment.

"Screenshots" from PSX-Scene forums

Victim of the PSN outage

This is what happens when you take down the PSN. The horror, the mayhem, the outrage, and the victims. The hearts of young men and women are put to the test. Some survive, most fall.

Here is a video of one such man who is about to completely lose it and this was uploaded back on Saturday, April 23, 2011. Even before Sony announced that personal data may have been stolen during the security breach.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xKV9BFEEXQ&w=560&h=349]

"Remember when the PS3 controller was supposed to look like this?"

And the PSN Outage’s First Class-Action Lawsuit is Already Filed - 4/28/2011

All I can say is... wow. Great job Sony.

From; Kotaku

If the Great PlayStation Network Blackout is going to cost Sony $24 billion, as some estimate, you bet some hunk of that is going to be paid to lawyers, and already they are lining up. A California law firm today filed a lawsuit that seeks class action status, alleging Sony didn't follow industry practices to protect its 77 million PSN customers, who were harmed by "one of the largest data breaches in the history of the Internet."

The Novato, Calif.-based Rothken law firm brought the suit on behalf of plaintiff Kristopher Johns. The 22-page complaint (read it here, .pdf). It alleges Sony violated the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which is meant to protect credit card data, and didn't follow legal requirements to protect customer records.

Sony's early public statements concerning the outage, followed by the revelation of the security breach five days later, also constitute a failure to appropriately warn customers they were at risk.

No dollar figure is cited in the complaint, but it seeks the full range of damages - compensatory, statutory, and punitive. And lawyers' fees, too.

Link ChevronClass Action Lawsuit Brought Against Sony Over PSN Data Breach [Gamasutra]