PSN takes sites down after log-in exploit found again

Just two days after the PlayStation Network was restored after a near month-long outage, the PSN password page has apparently been exploited. According to reports, the exploit allows other users to reset your account password using only your e-mail address and date of birth. This personal data was made available to hackers during the initial PSN attack.

The issue was first reported by Nyleveia, which was contacted by an unnamed source who reportedly performed the hack on a dummy account, prompting an e-mail message confirming that the password had been changed. Similar reports on gaming forum NeoGAF show an identical situation, in which the user provided the necessary information only to receive two subsequent e-mails: one claiming that someone was attempting to change the account's password and requesting the user click on a confirmation link, and another confirming that the password had been changed.

Nyleveia’s unnamed source demoed this breach to the staff to prove that it is a real threat, and Eurogamer has also seen video evidence that corroborates with Nylevia’s claims. Nyleveia has also passed what it discovered to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Since then, a number of sites have become inaccessible for login including:

PlayStation.com

PlayStation forums

all PlayStation game titles

PlayStation Blog

Qriocity.com

Music Unlimited via the web client

site where users are directed to to reset their passwords

In a brief statement confirming that the PSN has been taken offline, Sony said, “Unfortunately this also means that those who are still trying to change their password via Playstation.com or Qriocity.com will be unable to do so for the time being. This is due to essential maintenance and at present it is unclear how long this will take.

The report comes from gaming blog Nyleveia, which posted a warning to PSN users that their passwords might not be safe and contacted Sony about it.

Another blog, Eurogamer, says it confirmed the exploit, which allows someone to reset your password by knowing your e-mail address used for the account and date of birth. That information is known to be among the data belonging to 100 million users of Sony's gaming services that was exposed between April 17 and 19 in the second-largest security breach in U.S. history.

Eurogamer says users that changed the e-mail address connected to the PSN account after PSN was restored this weekend should not be at risk.

Yesterday, speaking to a handful of reporters, Sony CEO Howard Stringer admitted that while the company had rebuilt the security for PSN during the three weeks it was unavailable, no system could be guaranteed "100 percent secure.

PlayStation Network Sony say sorry with gifts

PlayStation Yesterday SCEE finally confirmed that PSN services have started coming back online in Europe after over three weeks of online gaming blackout on PS3.

It's been pretty inconvenient for single-system owners; big online games including Portal 2, Brink and Mortal Kombat haven't seen a single online PSN match until now - and Sony's set to say sorry with a number of online gifts and service bonuses.

In case you missed the previous announcement, to get back on PSN you'll need to download a mandatory system update and change your password. This can only be done on the same PS3 on which your account was originally activated.

On the same day Kazuo Hirai, Sony Corporation executive deputy president said that the firm had been working around the clock to get services online and talked up what is apparently one of the most significant changes to Sony's online security - a forced user password change.

Hirai added that Sony, with the help of some third parties, thankfully, had carried out an "an intensive investigation" into the firm's systems and had added encryption, firewalls and an early warning detection system. He added, "Greater protection for information is our top priority."

Here's what you can expect:

Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.

All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of

PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.

Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.

Sony has revealed that it will give US PlayStation Network subscribers $1 million-worth of identity insurance when the PSN down time ends - and that it is working hard to bring European customers "something similar.

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Is PlayStation Move in big trouble?

Only thing Move's got left to do is wave goodbye. It died for me early with Heavy Rain: Move Edition, a game built on gesture-based controls. A perfect fi t, surely? No. It reduced control and comfort while adding nothing bar an extra thing to hold.

One stores outage's first week showed little PS3 sales impact, but that thereafter his store had seen "an increase of over 200 per cent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 instead."

Edge's list of sources telling the same tale continues and ranges from corporate chains to indie resellers. Not a huge surprise, but grim news, any way you spin it.

The magazine corroborates its ad hoc phone surveys with actual sales data, citing UK selling trends that shows recent spikes in Xbox 360 sales for multi-platform titles (like Call of Duty: Black Ops) and commensurate PS3 sales declines.

Sales data aside, the phone call claims may or may not be indicative of broader trends, and Edge admits the small sample's hardly scientific. What's more, they surmise it's still just online-fixated gamers jumping ship. But as we know, the PlayStation Network has (or should we say had?) some 77 million members worldwide. It's anyone's guess how many of those are fixated enough to part ways over the three-weeks-and-counting outage.

Top PS3 Downtime Solutions

So its Easter Sunday and we are all well aware of Sony’s increasingly frustrating PSN outage. Other than munching on chocolate, I am sure today was also planned as a lazy day in, served with a hot session of online gaming! With the misery story of the PSN, we thought we would try and offer some other alternatives so that your gaming day at home would not be totally ruined after all.

We spoke earlier about how gamers who also own an Xbox 360 were simply switching consoles and playing Xbox live, well this is the first tip. If you just bought Mortal Kombat 9 on the PS3 then this will be very annoying, but anyone who freely plays games on both consoles should not have too many problems playing with the 360 while we wait for service to resume. You can find regular updates on the Playstation Blog.

Attempt split-screen multiplayer, even if vs. a Kinectimal

Back in my day, the Internet was strictly for porn and downloading songs illegally through Napster. Meanwhile, videogames were played offline with local friends in a form of multiplayer called “split… screen.” Games like Mario Kart 64 and GoldenEye 007 used to rob teens and twenty-somethings of sleep on a regular basis, but unlike Call of Duty today, we were all able (read: forced) to enjoy the close-quarters competition. Being able to throw a couch pillow at a buddy who was just few feet away is a cheapshot that you just can’t execute with today’s microphone and headset combo. Now, we know that you may have shed all of your tangible friends since the dawn of social networking sites Facebook and Twitter. However, we played against a Kinectimal in Tetris and couldn’t be more pleased with the results. Everyone likes winning and this is a sure-fire way to scream Charlie Sheen’s favorite line after every round.

Go outside

Many videogames are based on the environment outside of your living room and it still exists today! So, get up and have an up-close-and-personal encounter with planet Earth and… oh no! The sun is bright! Everyone back inside and move onto the next suggestion…

Sneak into Netflix on PS3 through this workaround; feel like you’re sneaking into the movies

I’ve never snuck into the movies, but I can imagine what it’s like now that I’ve overcome the log-in obstacles that currently plague Netflix on the PS3. Booting up the dashboard widget leads you to the notorious PSN sign-in screen. Grumble, Grumble, Grumble! Same thing as online gaming, right? Well, if you press X to sign in and fail, simply press O. It’ll still load up Netflix. It’ll ask you to sign in a couple more times until you advance far enough into the movie selection screen. Don’t give up, after a couple of tries, it quits faster than an underpaid movie theater usher.

Surf the web and play Call of Duty: Black Ops offline at the same time: “Pfftt... yeah, I’m online... gaming on PS3”

Please don’t resort to playing Farmville or any other obnoxious social networking “game” that is going to clutter the newsfeed of your soon-to-be-former friends. We know that you want to tell everyone that you were online gaming this weekend and don’t want to end your streaking just because PSN is down. Instead, surf the web and play an offline game at the same time - you’ve got two hands. There’s even an awesome site we can suggest for the first half of the online + gaming equation.

Log into... dun dun dun! Xbox Live or Steam

PlayStation-loyalists aren’t going to be pleased with this suggestion as they are the most vocal in the so-called “system wars.” But Xbox Live and Steam are two great alternatives to gaming through PSN. A lot of the same games are offered on the Xbox 360 and PC/Mac including a couple of exclusives like Limbo via XBLA – my personal favorite of 2010. So long as you aren’t rebuying your PS3 games for this (hopefully) single weekend of downtime, then you’re spending your time and money wisely. There are some PS3 and PSP fans who “say” they’re so fed up with the whole ordeal that they’re buying a brand new Xbox 360 for this very reason. We think most of them are lying like the overenthusiastic Republican or Democratic voter who says if X wins, I’m moving to N country. Not a chance.

Rig up that old PS2 Network Adapter

PS2 Online is reportedly still working, according to a mix of tweets. Since this 2002-launched service was never part of the PlayStation Network, this would make sense. So, if you still haven’t traded in your old PS2 console and have Sony’s archaic PS2 Network Adapter screwed into the back of your last-gen console’s expansion slot, then you could be playing SOCOM 1, SOCOM 2, SOCOM 3 – even SOCOM 4 …as in SOCOM: Combined Assault, the real fourth installment in the SOCOM series. Be sure to tweet that you’re “playing SOCOM 4 online right now” and get every online shooter fan into a frenzy.

Laugh at Wii’s still-pitiful online support

PSN may not work this week, but in our minds, Nintendo’s online gaming strategy has never really worked for us. Without a sole identity and, instead, relying on a series of numbers, the motion-controlled console missed the boat by a mile this generation. 3DS makes it a little bit easier with a single-friend code, but if Microsoft and Sony have taught one thing, it’s that gamertags and personal IDs are the way to go. Oh and that voice chat shouldn’t be done through a room-wide speaker doodad like Wii Speak.

Try logging into PSN 80710A06 times. We hear that’s the magic number

More than 1,100 words later and is PSN back up yet? Not from what we see. We must have tried signing in 8,071,006 since our PS3 went down on April 21. That’s very close to the now infamous error message 80710A06. If only we could figure out the A part, maybe we could somehow beat the system and host the smallest CoD: Black Ops game in history. Keep trying, folks. Hopefully, PSN will be back up on Monday.

PSN Password On PS3 In United States

Sony has announced via the PlayStation Blog that PS3 firmware 3.61 is now available for the PlayStation 3.

Update sees the first step in restoring the PlayStation Network and is a mandatory update for all PlayStation 3. The new firmware requires all PSN users to change their password once PSN comes back online.

Sony Ireland confirmed through its Facebook page that "some PSN services, including online gameplay, will indeed go live later today (Sunday).

PlayStation Network  United States, here are some helpful tips for PS3 gamers in places like the UK, Ireland, India and Canada where PSN isn't back online in full. Changing your PSN password is going to be your first order of business after downloading PS3 firmware 3.61, the latest system update for the console. In fact, it's your only order of business. Sony has made changing your password a requirement as soon as you attempt to log into PSN for the first time.

"To thwart the hackers, all you have to do is follow the on-screen instructions. A notification will pop up that reads "Your password is no longer valid. You must change your password." No please or thank yous, Sony isn't messing around in this very frank message. Pressing the X button will take you past this initial box to the next screen."

Second screen is where you'll enter you new password. You do not need to remember your old password. We know, it's been three long weeks and you may have forgotten what it is. Simply type out your new password (a combination of numbers and letters) in the first dialogue box and re-enter that same password in the second dialogue box. If it meets Sony's security standards, you'll be able to press X and proceed.

If you are done successfully, the third message box will read: "Update complete." This is the message we've all been waiting for during the past 24 days of the online outage. Hitting the X button to get beyond this screen will send you back out the the XMB where you'll still be logged out, but officially signing back to the PSN is a piece of cake. 

Logging into PSN for the first time in 24 days is exactly like you remember it. The familiar sign-in opaque dialogue box appears with your user ID and new password information already saved to the system. Simply hitting the X button brings you and PSN back together for the first time since April 20.

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Things do PlayStation Network is still down

Read War and Peace. Hopefully Sony will have PSN back up by the time you finish. C`mon, after 8 days down, do you really believe the promise of partial PSN restoration by next Tuesday?

Watch the Royal Wedding. Who else is up at that hour of the night?

Dig out dad's "Dungeons and Dragons" game. Hey, analog role playing is better than nothing.

Go to a 3D movie. While you've been playing non-stop for the last 3 years, there have been some amazing tech advances. Oh, yeah, ask your friends to explain what an iPhone is.

Become a day trader. The highs and lows can be as exciting as interactive game playing, except you make (or, gulp, lose) real money rather than spend it on virtual goods.

Check your email. Sony would like to explain how it lost all your personal information, including precious gamertag ID, password, birth date, security questions and much more. Ah, best check credit card activity, too.

Update your Match.com profile -- remove MAG, SOCOM 4 and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Visit your mom. Her door is on the other side of the bathroom.

Change your passwords from "password" -- or "123456789." Hackers have it now.

Take a shower. You need it.

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Pressure to quit builds on Sony's Howard Stringer

Sony chief Sir Howard Stringer has spoken about the security breach of the PlayStation Network for the first time, apologising to the users affected and unveiling a $1m identity theft insurance policy to protect each user in the future.

The revelation comes just days after Sony issued a public apology following an attack on its PlayStation Network and has led to criticism of the Welsh-born Sir Howard, who has led Sony for six years.

However, Stringer has been forced to take action to try and control the crisis as Sony's share price fell by as much as 4% in trading on Thursday as investors worried about the ultimate cost of the attacks.

The previous security issues included a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, which was organised by the vigilante group Anonymous. DDoS attacks merely cause problems for users attempting to access the company's websites; however the second attack, presumed to be spearheaded by a separate group, may have compromised credit card information from millions of subscribers.

Stringer said that the game network would be restored "in the coming days" – the service has been offline for almost three weeks – with all users having to change their account passwords before being able to sign in.

To try to entice users back onto the system, and by way of apology, Stringer reminded gamers that a "welcome back" package is being offered that will include benefits including a month free of its premium-level service "to make up for time lost.

Sony’s PSN Back

Sony released a comprehensive update to their timeframe for bringing the PSN back up and running at full speed – with many services resuming by the end of the week.


Now we’re getting official (translated) confirmation that, as part of Sony’s updated security, users should expect to download a new firmware – designated 3.61.


Sony’s Playstation Network has been down since a hacker accessed personal information on roughly seventy-seven million user accounts between April 17th and April 19th. Sony failed to release further information to customers until April 26th.


PS3 will have a forced system software update that will require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service.


Sony currently believes that it will be able to restore a limited version of the Playstation Network within a week. The Playstation Store will be disabled until Sony can fully investigate the hack. The Playstation Network is expected to be restored in Japan first. Europe and the United States are also high priorities for restoration.

Sony Gaming Online

Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) is a game development and game publishing division of Sony that is best known for creating massively multiplayer online games, including EverQuest, EverQuest II, The Matrix Online, PlanetSide, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, DC Universe Online and yet other smaller games in development.

In 2008 Sony Online Entertainment’s game Everquest was honored (along with Neverwinter Nights and World of Warcraft) at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG games.

Recent history

As of May 2010, John Smedley is the CEO of Sony Online Entertainment. SOE is headquartered in San Diego, California, with additional game development studios located in Austin, Texas, Denver, Colorado and Seattle, Washington.

In January 2005, Sony Online Entertainment announced the creation of Station Publishing, a new label for distributing titles made by external developers.

SOE has produced numerous EverQuest expansions and spin-off video games, including Champions of Norrath (for PlayStation 2) and Lords of EverQuest (Windows). They published the sequel to Champions of Norrath, called Champions: Return to Arms, in February 2005.

In August 2005 SOE entered a deal with Warner Bros. Entertainment which saw the acquisition and transition of The Matrix Online to the existing line up of Station games.

In April 2006, Sony Online Entertainment, Inc. became Sony Online Entertainment LLC, owned by Sony Pictures Digital and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

In May 2006, it was announced that SOE would be co-publisher of Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. However, Sigil retains full development rights, and SOE's role is only that of marketing, distribution, technical support and hosting the game servers. SOE also announced the release of Field Commander, its third game for the PlayStation Portable System.

In August 2006, SOE announced the acquisition of developer Worlds Apart Productions, renaming the studio SOE-Denver. The studio has since released an online version of the WizKids Pirates Constructible Strategy Game.

Sony Online Entertainment's history can be seen as starting with Sony Interactive Studios America (SISA), an internal game development studio of Sony that formed around 1995. In 1996, John Smedley was put in charge of SISA's development of an online computer role-playing game that would evolve into the MMORPG EverQuest. Smedley hired programmers Brad McQuaid and Steve Clover who had come to Smedley's attention through their work on the singleplayer RPG Warwizard.

In April 1998, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) was formed by merging parts of Sony Online Ventures with Sony Pictures Entertainment. Within a matter of months after this change, Sony Interactive Studios America was renamed 989 Studios.

Towards the end of 1998, 989 Studios shifted its strategy to making PlayStation console games only. The company's computer game/online development branch spun off, initially calling itself RedEye Interactive and then soon after Verant Interactive.

History

EverQuest launched with modest expectations from Sony on March 16, 1999 under its Verant Interactive brand and quickly became successful. Numbers continued rising at a steady rate until mid-2001 when growth slowed. As of 2004, Sony reported subscription numbers close to 450,000.

In April 2000, Verant hired former Ultima Online developers Raph Koster and Rich Vogel forming its office in Austin, Texas to develop Star Wars Galaxies for LucasArts. SOE acquired Verant in June 2000 and eventually promoted Brad McQuaid to be its Chief Creative Officer. EverQuest: The Ruins of Kunark (March 2000) was the first in a long list of expansions for its hit MMORPG. In October 2001, McQuaid resigned and went on to found Sigil Games Online, drawing many of the original developers of EverQuest from SOE to develop Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, an MMORPG that was released in January 2007.

Developed by Sony Online Entertainment, LucasArts released Star Wars Galaxies in 2003, which saw rapid growth as expected. Bruce Woodcock estimates that SWG reached nearly 300,000 subscribers within the year before trailing off. LucasArts has released three expansions for Star Wars Galaxies, Jump to Lightspeed October 2004, Rage of the Wookies May 2005 and Trials Of Obi-Wan November 2005.

In 2003, the company also explored relatively untouched MMO territory with the MMOFPS PlanetSide and the PlayStation 2 MMORPG EverQuest Online Adventures. PlanetSide enjoyed a reasonably successful launch, however the product never attracted wide popularity. SOE has released two expansions for PlanetSide, one a retail product called Core Combat, and a second free expansion titled Aftershock. EverQuest Online Adventures was not as successful but spawned an expansion EverQuest Online Adventures Frontiers, which is still maintained by SOE as of 2007.

PlayStation Networking

PlayStation Network, often abbreviated as PSN, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service provided/run by Sony Computer Entertainment for use with the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable video game consoles. As of April, 2011, there are 77 million registered PlayStation Network accounts. Since April 20, 2011, the PlayStation Network has been offline due to a "compromise of personal information as a result of an illegal intrusion.

History

In 2006, Sony announced an online network for the PlayStation 3 system at the 2006 PlayStation Business Briefing meeting in Tokyo, tentatively named "PlayStation Network Platform". Sony also confirmed that the service will always be connected,free, and include multiplayer support. The full list of features available at launch was announced at their TGS 2006 press conference. When the network launched, the registration interface could only be accessed through the PS3 or PSP system interfaces. This has been changed since to allow users to sign up from the PlayStation Network website.

At the Tokyo Game Show on September 21, 2006, it was revealed that users will be able to download some of the PlayStation and PSP titles from the PlayStation Network for about US$5–$15, starting with those with the smallest game data.

On May 8, 2007 Sony Computer Entertainment announced PlayStation Network Cards, a form of electronic money that can be used with the Store. PlayStation Network Tickets, available in units of 1,000, 3,000, 5,000, and 10,000 yen, can be purchased at convenience stores throughout Japan.Each ticket contains a 12 character alphanumeric code which can be input on the PlayStation Network to place credits in the virtual wallet. The tickets are available through electronic kiosks at 26,000 convenience stores, including Lawsons, Family Mart, Daily Yamazaki, Ministop and Sunkus. They are also available at 26,000 post office ATMs, although registration is required first at a special mobile website.

April 2011 outage

The PlayStation Network April 2011 outage, which began on April 20, 2011 and affected 77 million registered accounts, is the longest amount of time the PSN has been offline since its inception in 2006. Sony acknowledged that the outage prevented users from having the "ability to enjoy the services provided by PlayStation Network and Qriocity including online gaming and online access to music, movies, sports and TV shows.

While remaining offline, the PlayStation 3 was unable to play certain Capcom titles that were downloaded from the PlayStation Store. Streaming video providers Hulu, Vudu and Netflix are noted to be inaccessible displaying the same maintenance message. The maintenance message on Netflix can be bypassed, however, and the service can be used (two failed attempts to sign into PSN will allow access to the service).

User registration

Registration is performed via the PlayStation 3 console, a PlayStation Portable or a PC. Two types of accounts can be created; Master accounts and Sub accounts. Master accounts allow full access to all settings, including parental control, but the Master must be over the age of 18 to create an account. Sub accounts can subsequently be created with desired restrictions set by the master account hold

Since Master/Sub accounts are not linked to the PlayStation 3 serial number, which allows users to buy and sell used consoles, they can be used with different consoles as a guest user; therefore a single console can have multiple Master accounts. Although unregistered users can access and browse the PlayStation Store, registration is required to purchase items. Once purchased, items can be downloaded from the PlayStation Store to up to five consoles, however, if the owner account is deleted from a console, the content becomes invalid and is locked.

PlayStation Network launched in November 2006 to coincide with the launch of the PlayStation 3 console in North America and Japan. Due to the delay of the European launch to March 2007, Sony allowed residents of Europe to pre-register their PlayStation Network via PC in order to reserve their favored PSN ID, allowing them to quickly retrieve their details on the day of release.

EA: The Sims 3 was the world's biggest selling PC game in 2009

Earlier this month the NPD Group announced that The Sims 3 was the best selling retail PC game in the US in 2009. Now the game's publisher Electronic Arts has issued a press release claiming that the latest entry in the people sim series was in fact the number one selling PC game in the entire world last year. EA also claims the game's first expansion pack, The Sims 3 World Adventures, was also on the top 10 lists of best selling PC games in the past year in a number of countries.

While EA didn't mention any specific unit sales numbers in its announcement it did say that The Sims 3's number one sales numbers represent the sixth year in the past decade that a Sims game has been the best selling PC game in a year. In addition, EA says over 100 million pieces of custom content for the game have been downloaded from The Sims 3 Exchange in 2009.

Source:gamedaily.com/