109w ago - Today SCEE Blog Manager
James Gallagher alongside Senior Director
Patrick Seybold via the
US Blog have posted update details on the PSN service outages, stating outside attacks may be a possible cause.
To quote: I know you are waiting for additional information on when PlayStation Network and Qriocity services will be online. Unfortunately, I don't have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time.
As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we're working to get them back online quickly. We'll keep you updated with information as it becomes available. We once again thank you for your patience.
We sincerely regret that PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have been suspended, and we are working around the clock to bring them both back online.
Our efforts to resolve this matter involve re-building our system to further strengthen our network infrastructure. Though this task is time-consuming, we decided it was worth the time necessary to provide the system with additional security.
We thank you for your patience to date and ask for a little more while we move towards completion of this project. We will continue to give you updates as they become available.
An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th.
Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly, and we once again thank you for your patience. We will continue to update you promptly as we have additional information to share.
As you are no doubt aware, the current emergency outage is continuing this afternoon and all Sony Online Network services remain unavailable.
Our support teams are investigating the cause of the problem, including the possibility of targeted behaviour 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.
Our engineers are continuing to work to restore and maintain the services, and we appreciate our customers' continued support.
While we are investigating the cause of the Network outage, we wanted to alert you that it may be a full day or two before we're able to get the service completely back up and running.
Thank you very much for your patience while we work to resolve this matter. Please stay tuned to this space for more details, and we'll update you again as soon as we can.
For further information, please refer to updates on PlayStation.com our
@PlayStationEU twitter feed.
Finally, for those wondering PSN error
80710A06 simply means "Issue with the system: The PlayStation 3 system encounted an issue" according to Sony's
PS3 error code checker.
341 Comments - Go to Forum Thread »
“The search warrant will get them more detailed information, including payment information and which credit card was used.”
Hackers using an alias signed up to rent a server through Amazon’s EC2 service and launched the attack from there, said the person, who requested anonymity because the information is confidential. The account has been shut down, the person said.
The development sheds light on how hackers used the so- called cloud to carry out the second-biggest online theft of personal information to date. The incursion, which compromised the personal accounts of more than 100 million Sony customers, was “a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber attack,” Sony has said.
Drew Herdener, a spokesman for Seattle-based Amazon, declined to comment.
“We’re continuing to work with law enforcement in an ongoing investigation into the situation,” said Patrick Seybold, a U.S. spokesman for Tokyo-based Sony. “As such, we will not comment further on this matter.”
The hackers didn’t break into the Amazon servers, the person said. Rather, they signed up for the service just as a legitimate company would, using fake information.
Even so, the breach at Amazon is likely to call attention to concerns some businesses have voiced over the security of computing services delivered via others’ remote servers, referred to as cloud computing.
Cloud security is Amazon’s top priority, Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said at an event sponsored by Consumer Reports magazine this week.
Rented Servers
“Data security is one of these great dynamic situations where the bad guys get better, and the good guys have to keep getting better too -- it’s not a static situation,” Bezos said, Fast Company’s website reported. “I don’t think this is ever going away -- it’s like trying to say that you’re going to get crime to go away.”
The use of a hijacked or rented server to launch attacks is typical for sophisticated hackers. The proliferation of server farms around the globe has made such misdirection easier, said E.J. Hilbert, president of the security company Online Intelligence and a former FBI cyber-crime investigator.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation will likely subpoena Amazon as part of its investigation process, or it may try to obtain a search warrant, Hilbert said.
“The subpoena will give law enforcement a history of the transactions,” or who had access to the specific Internet address at that time, Hilbert said. “The search warrant will get them more detailed information, including payment information and which credit card was used.”
Amazon Service
Herdener declined to say whether Amazon has been subpoenaed or served with a search warrant.
FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth, a spokesman for the agency’s San Diego office, said he couldn’t comment on whether the agency had served Amazon with a search warrant or subpoena.
“We are following up on each and every lead,” Foxworth said.