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Gunns4Hire from NextGenTactics did a great video talking about how we really do need Sony.

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"hey guys Sony here, sorry for being useless and ****ing up huge, to compensate here's a full month of playstation +"

Gee thanks guys! Now you can start recovering losses!

IF this PS+ rumor is accurate then take a step back and think about it.

Sony doesn't give a shit about their customers, this much is abundantly clear. What they do care about is money, and how they can recoup losses.

Lets break it down. Sony dishes out 1 month free PS+ . This allows you access to the free game for the month and discounts on other selected playstation titles.

From my understanding (correct me if I am wrong please) once your PS+ subscription runs out you lose the ability to play your free game. If this is accurate then Sony's take on it will be : Out of the 70million accounts how many will enjoy the free game and purchase an extension to keep playing them.

How many people are going to enjoy this free "preview" of PS+ and continue to subscribe to it?

Is this really a way for Sony to compensate us for their massive **** up (which is still poor compensation in any regards) or is this a way for Sony to promote their under promoted PlayStation+ service .

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Community Team Leader on EU Forums has just let everyone know that PSN is still on track to resume service for this week.

Hey guys,
I would love to be able to give you new information, and right now there isn’t any available.
I’m asking lots of questions but at the moment all I’m being told is that the “last update still stands” eg – Some PlayStation Network services will be restored this week.
The very second I hear anything new, it will be passed on to you. I’m also keeping a note of your feedback throughout this outage, so keep posting it.
Much love,
MB

Source
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This is where all of 77 million PSN users worldwide are....in limbo and purgatory... but hey SONY's apology to all of us is an exciting whole free month of PSN Plus when they CANT EVEN program in C++.....LOL

THIS IS NOT A RANT, not a COMPLAINT...I love my PS3....as a consumer we should have a VOICE to be heard......

Now....on the 14th day (2 whole weeks) I think i can speak for the most of us here.....who the hell really cares and who gives a damn anymore about sony's outage due to their incompetence.... DOES IT REALLY SURPRISE US?

I think most of us are not even that mad about not being able to get online, even though if you bought socom4 or portal2 2 weeks ago you have the right to be pissed....

the concensus is that sony saw this coming and it has been warned repeatedly of its LAZY ASS ATTITUDE on SECURITY, even geohot warned them.....

...they spent more time and money sueing geohot than being pre-amptive & pro-active bout their lack of security....otherwise it wouldn't had happened in the 1st place and be down for a whole week now...

so when will PSN be back up.....Who the hell really cares now....might as well be an entire month for all I care.....If being in PSN Purgatory isn't bad enough, now our personal data, info and privacy is at risk.... come on SONY......shame on u...

i know, i know....they are doing their best day and night to rebuild the servers and their infrastructure.....blah, blah, blah.....too late now....

It really sux for us....but you know what? I dont feel sorry for sony one bit whatsoever....the FACTS stand.....they got OWNED and got their ASSSES handed to them on a silver platter......they fully deserved it....

so my fellow 77 million PSN purgatory PS3ers..... did this really come as a shock to you? not reallly.... Let's all hold hands and sing CUMBAIA....

At the end of the day, SONY is just plain COMICAL.... Hang on and Stand tall my friends.... /facepalm

As the "PSN outage" extends and tensions run high, there has been a high increase in threads that generally say the same thing. They all seem to point to one factor, that a lot of people only play games for the multiplayer.

Now, I'm alot older than some users ( I'm 27 ) and when I was a kid, if you wanted to play games with your friends you would have to go to their house, not just party up. So for me, playing offline is no problem.

Playing Offline

Although most of the popular games seem to be designed as a multiplayer game, they still contain a story mode and many games have multiple offline modes.

I recently bought the new Mortal Kombat, there's so much to do that I probably won't play it online until I finished all the other things I've started. I also have been playing the Crysis 2 and Black Ops campaigns, because if PSN was up I'd just be playing the multiplayer.

These can help take the hours of boredom away. Already completed it? well put it on the hardest setting and go back in.

You could probably find a guide right here on NGU!

Trophies

All games have these, use this time to go back and get ones that you forgot about or couldn't be bothered with. If your bored and your ps3 is your only source of entertainment, then trophy hunting can be a good sport.

When I first ever got a ps3, I didn't even have internet, trophy hunting was all I could do.

I know trophies may not be everyone's interest, but it does look cool to have a few platinums in your collection.

(Online trophies usually make up a small percentage of the total amount.)

Again, you can probably find help with trophies here on NGU.

Your ps3 can also;

Play stored music
Play CDs
Play Blue Rays and DVDs
Browse on the internet

So there are plenty of things that you can still do with your ps3, and even more things are available away from your ps3.

Live your life?

Enjoy the weather
Go play some sports
Go to the gym
Go to the cinema
Get a haircut
Do anything !!!

Life has so much to offer you, but you just won't take it.

Sony has promised that this week the first few functions of the PlayStation Network come back online. The week is almost over and there is as yet no line for us, but they are there working on it.
A select group of gamers currently testing the PlayStation Network on behalf of Sony. Below is the SignOfZodiac gamer, who Just uploaded a video on YouTube has posted this. He has also told that there is indeed a new firmware update has come.



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Sony has implicated the Internet collective known as “Anonymous” in the recent security failure on its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment servers, resulting in the potential exposure of personal information used in more than 100 million user accounts on those services, combined.

Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) chairman Kazuo Hirai announced the news You must login or register to view this content. provided to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, which queried Sony as part of a hearing on “The Threat of Data Theft to American Consumers.”

“When Sony Online Entertainment discovered this past Sunday afternoon that data from its servers had been stolen, it also discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of those servers named ‘Anonymous’ with the words ‘We are Legion,” wrote Hirai. “Just weeks before, several Sony companies had been the target of a large-scale, coordinated denial of service attack by the group called Anonymous. The attacks were coordinated against Sony as a protest against Sony for exercising its rights in a civil action in the United States District Court in San Francisco against a hacker.”

Hirai refers to Sony’s lawsuit against George Hotz, known on the Internet by his moniker “Geohot.” Hotz was involved in an effort to “jailbreak” the PlayStation 3 video game console to allow the Linux operating system and homebrew applications to be installed on it, after Sony removed the PlayStation 3’s “OtherOS” feature, which enabled this to be done legitimately.

Sony responded by suing Hotz, but Sony settled with Hotz on April 11th, the week before the intrusion into the PlayStation Network.

Hotz, for his part, has denied any involvement in the intrusion on Sony’s network, calling efforts to steal information “not cool” and using saltier language to describe the actions of the data thieves. Such efforts, Hotz added, cast the hacking community in a negative light.

There’s no question that Anonymous had targeted Sony for retribution. On its Web site in early April, Anonymous said Sony was receiving its “undivided attention” for taking Hotz to court. Shortly thereafter, users began to complain of interrupted access to Sony Web sites and the PlayStation Network.

Anonymous later said that it ceased any denial of service activities once PlayStation users complained, however. ”We have therefore temporarily suspended our action, until a method is found that will not severely impact Sony customers.”

Anonymous spokesman Barrett Brown told IT security publication SC Magazine You must login or register to view this content. published Wednesday that Anonymous didn’t have anything to do with the Sony Online Entertainment server break-in.

“Anonymous has no record in engaging in credit card theft and resell, and if we did, the FBI would’ve already come down on us,” Barrett said, adding that anyone could have planted the file to implicate Anonymous.

So. Is the intrusion the work of someone associated with Anonymous? Or is it someone just trying to divert attention? Or could the file have been planted by someone at Sony as a means of focusing governmental attention on the rogue group? The plot thickens around Sony’s PlayStation Network problems and its ham-handed handling since then, like the latest paperback techno-thriller. I’m certain there are plenty of chapters left.

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Q.1 When did you realise the system had been intruded?

We discovered between April 17 and April 19 there was an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network.

Q.2 How did you know that the system was intruded?

We watch for any issues that may be raised with respect to security and monitor for such issues both internally and externally.

Q.3 What is the main reason to this problem? Which parts of the system were vulnerable to the intrusion?

We are currently conducting a thorough investigation of the situation. Since this is an overall security related issue, we will not comment further on this case.

Q.4 What action did you take (are you taking)? Is there any possibility of further unauthorized access?

As soon as we learned of this issue, 1) we temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services in order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services, 2) we have also engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened, and 3) quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

Q.5 How many were affected? How many per each region? What is the latest status of PlayStation Network registered account/ operating countries.

Our investigation indicates that all PlayStation Network/ Qriocity accounts may have been affected.

Q.6 Does that mean all users’ information was compromised? Tell us more in details of what personal information leaked.

In terms of possibility, yes. We believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password, login, password security answers, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data may have been obtained, including purchase history and billing address (city, state/province, zip or postal code). If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, it is possible that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may also have been obtained.

Q.7 Have you notified those users?

We are sending out e-mails directly to these users to their e-mail address registered on the PS Network accounts. Also, we have posted web notices, and additional necessary procedures have been followed by each region.

Q.8 I want to know if my account has been affected.

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. Additionally, if you use the same user name or password for your PlayStation Network or Qriocity service account for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are back on line, we also strongly recommend that you log on to change your password.
For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, postal mail or other scams that ask for personal or sensitive 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.

Q.9 What should I do to prevent any unauthorized use of my (credit card) personal information?

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, postal mail or other scams that ask for personal or sensitive 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. Additionally, if you use the same user name or password for your PlayStation Network or Qriocity service account for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are back on line, we also strongly recommend that you log on to change your password.
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.

Q.10 Since when have PSN/Qriocity become unavailable and in which region?

PSN/Qriocity services have not been available since April 20 (US time) in all regions.

Q.11 How come it is taking so much time to resume the service?

We are taking the investigation seriously. We decided to keep the service down to allow us to conduct a thorough investigation and verify smooth operation of our network services.

Q.12 How serious is this? Have the hackers broken the security on PSN/Qriocity? Are you taking necessary measures to prevent such outage happening in the future?

Since this is an overall security related issue, we will not comment further on this case but we are working to restore and maintain the services, including countermeasures against future intrusions.
Q.13 When will the service resume?

We are taking the investigation seriously. We will keep the service down to allow us to conduct a thorough investigation and verify smooth operation of our network services but are working hard to resume the services as soon as we can be reasonably assured security concerns are addressed.

Q.14 Seems like SOE service was also not available/ suffering outage. Is this true? Is this due to the same reason as the PSN/Qriocity outage?

SOE's service is available although a service interruption due to an external attack did occur. A thorough investigation is ongoing.

Q.15 I want my money back (subscription fee, content) since the PSN/Qriocity was not available.

When the full services are restored and the length of the outage is known, we will assess the correct course of action.

Q.16 There seems to be some games that cannot be played even offline?

Depending on the game titles, but mainly PSN games, some may require access to PSN for trophy sync, security check, etc.

This Was Not Posted So No Trolololololing...
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Sony has hired people to hunt the psn hackers.

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To catch those responsible for the attacks on the PlayStation Network, which has brought the service down for over a week and exposed the private details of millions, Sony has hired not one but two teams of private investigators. And a third team of consultants, just for good measure.
The first team is from Data Forté, and according to Reuters it's led by "a former special agent with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service". The company specialises in the "preservation and collection of electronic evidence", and has experience with similar cases, having helped prosecute hackers responsible for data theft from a "major motion picture studio".

The second team is from Guidance Software, a data security firm. While specialising in the training of staff and the selling of corporate data protection software, Guidance has dispatched a number of "cyber-security detectives" from its ranks to help in the investigation.

The third company, Protiviti, is not involved in trying to catch those responsible. Instead, as a company specialising in things like audits, it is providing consultants to help Sony "clean up" the mess left by the attack and the fact the PSN has been down for over a week.

While restoring the functionality of the PSN and ensuring that its customer's personal details and credit card details are safe is of course Sony's top priority, it'll still be nice to see somebody caught at the end of all this. After all, as culpable as Sony was for its online defences, it is (and we all are by extension) still the victims of an invasive crime here.


I think if they know who the hacker is he will get sued or even gets a couple of years in prison. hope they catch him
Source kotaku.com

In a rather cruel twist of fate for Sony, a group of hackers have released Other OS++, a custom firmware for the PlayStation 3 console that resurrects the much talked about Other OS feature.

Oh the irony



In case you were unaware, Sony removed the ability to install Linux on the PS3 via the Other OS feature following GeoHot’s initial attempts to hack into the console as a measure to protect its security. This move antagonized a lot of the PS3 owners, who didn’t take too kindly to Sony removing features from a product they had purchased and forcing them to comply with the feature removal if they wanted to continue using the PS3’s online services. This was also the case for many who had never used, and never had any inclination to use, the aforementioned feature.

The move also triggered the heightening of the hacking efforts against the PS3, which resulted in fail0verflow and GeoHot’s discoveries – ones that we’ve heard of plenty about now. At a time when Sony is struggling to cope with the PSN outage caused by external intrusion and the leakage of its customers’ personal information, this release by the PS3MFW team serves as a counter punch right to the noggin.

Hackers have released custom firmwares, tools and instructions to allow PS3 owners to reinstate the ability to install Linux or other third-party operating sytems on the popular games consoles.
Sony removed the 'Install OtherOS' function from the system with a firmware update back in march 2010 after it discovered that infamous hacker George 'Geohot' Hotz had been exploiting the little used geekery to footle about in the PS3's innards.
The Japanese company ran roughshod over its customers hiding behind iron-clad end user agreements which basically said anyone who brought a PlayStation didn't own the software installed on it, and it could remove chunks of code which were widely used to sell the hardware on a whim.
The firmware update forced users to choose between the abilty to play the latest online games and installing Linux.
Since then Sony has been beseiged by hackers and online acivists keen to prove that being the biggest, richest kid in the playground doesn't give you the right to grab everyone else's toys and break them.
Things have been pretty quiet on the OtherOS front since the PS3 was cracked wide open with the discovery of the hardware's private data signing keys, but now a team of hackers from gitbrew.org has released all of the tools and resources neccessary to resurrect the missing functionality.

The hack involves some complex and arcane jiggery-pokery but experienced users will be able to reinstate Linux using a combination of custom firmware called OtherOS++ which reportedly goes beyond the abilities of the Sony-sanctioned orginal to allow full access to the PS3's hardware.
The hacking team behind the publication described the ability to reinstate Install OtherOS as "One small steps for devs, one giant kick in the nuts for Sony Corp," which amused us no end.

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(CNN) -- Sony has uncovered a file that could link Anonymous, the highly visible renegade hacker group, to a breach that led to the theft of personal information for as many as 101 million people, the company wrote in a letter to the U.S. Congress.

During the investigations, which have gone on for two weeks so far with many online networks offline, Sony discovered a file on its system named Anonymous that contained the group's sort of catchphrase, "We are Legion," wrote Kazuo Hirai, the Sony Computer Entertainment president and America division chairman.

The file was found on a server managed by Sony Online Entertainment, a subsidiary that makes online multiplayer games for the computer and PlayStation 3.

Sony Online originally thought it was unaffected by the intrusions that hit sister companies, but investigators found that its data, too, was taken during the two-day attack last month.

Sony Online, which sells subscription-based games such as "EverQuest" and "DC Universe Online," took its systems offline Monday morning at 4:38 a.m. ET and disclosed the intrusion later that day, a spokeswoman said. The Anonymous file was discovered on Sunday, after Sony found that data had been taken from Sony Online's servers, but she declined to say why the company didn't initially mention the file.
s has gained international notoriety over the last several years for its computer-security attacks on major companies. The group has gone after MasterCard, Visa, the Church of Scientology and government websites for Tunisia and Egypt. Many of the targets are chosen for political or philosophical reasons.

Sony found itself in Anonymous' crosshairs early last month in retaliation for suing two people who were distributing instructions showing how to hack a PlayStation 3 game system. Hirai said in his letter that Anonymous members collaborated to overload Sony's servers, a practice of constantly pinging a Web address called a denial of service attack.

"You have abused the judicial system in an attempt to censor information on how your products work," a representative for the group wrote in a public letter to Sony posted on its website. "In doing so you have violated the privacy of thousands of innocent people who only sought the free distribution of information."

Now Sony is suggesting Anonymous helped facilitate the theft of millions of people's private data.

"This cyberattack came shortly after Sony Computer Entertainment America was the subject of denial of service attacks launched against several Sony companies and threats made against both Sony and its executives," Hirai wrote in the response to a congressional inquiry. "Whether those who participated in the denial of service attacks were conspirators or whether they were simply duped into providing cover for a very clever thief, we may never know."

Anonymous posted an update to its website after Sony shut down its PlayStation Network and Qriocity media streaming service, titled "For Once We Didn't Do It." The statement read: "While it could be the case that other Anons have acted by themselves AnonOps wa (sic) not related to this incident and takes no responsiblity (sic) for it."

Sony says it is working with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and security experts to analyze the situation. They haven't yet identified the people responsible for the breach, Hirai wrote.

This is not by me, it was just found by me.
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Here is the link for the detailed update:
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Ok Basically this is showing that Sony cares about their network.

These are the main things they are recently working on:

Act with care and caution.
Provide relevant information to the public when it has been verified.
Take responsibility for our obligations to our customers.
Work with law enforcement authorities.

Now this is very important because if they actually do what they said in their update a 90% chance that the PSN will never be hacked again

They are enhancing their Security System to be better than the Xbox from what i understood. This is a major comeback for Sony

They have confirmed the team Anonymous hacked their system and said that the credit card info hasn't been breached confirming from Major Credit Card companies.

This is the Welcome back present for Us PSN users:

Includes free downloads, 30 days of free membership in the
PlayStation Plus premium subscription service; 30 days of free service for Music Unlimited subscribers; and extending PlayStation Plus and Music Unlimited subscriptions for the number of days services were unavailable.

A little update on when PSN will be back up:


We are working around the clock to have some PlayStation Network services restored and we’ll be providing specific details shortly. We hope this update is helpful to you, and we will continue to keep you posted as we work to restore our network and provide you with both the entertainment and the security you deserve.

What if we all got online at the same time when Psn comes back up and it just crashes? What would u do? Feel free to express anything hilarious. i would laugh for about ten seconds then smash the **** out of my playstation with a hammer. LOL

Hey NGU Community!

I found some new info in the never ending saga regarding the "Playstation Network" and Sony attempt on trying to track down the people behind this criminal act.

Continue to read below for the full story!

"[multipage=Set your Page Name ]Group says it's being framed by "standard online thieves."
May 5, 2011

Hacker group Anonymous is denying any claims that members of the group breached PlayStation Network last month in an attempt to steal credit card and personal information of Sony's customers.

Sony said in its letter to the U.S. Congress yesterday that the company discovered a file planted by the intruders on one of its servers called "Anonymous" with the words "We are Legion" - the popular slogan used by the group.

Responding to Sony's letter, Anonymous issued a statement today saying it has never engaged in credit card theft and that they are being framed by a group of "standard online thieves."

The group previously stated it had no involvement with the PlayStation Network outage before Sony knew information was taken, saying "For once we didn't do it."

Anonymous' statement can be read in full below:

Last month, an unknown party managed to break into Sony's servers and acquired millions of customer records including credit card numbers. Insomuch as that this incident occurred in the midst of Anonymous' OpSony, by which participants engaged in several of our standard information war procedures against the corporation and its executives, Sony and other parties have come to blame Anonymous for the heist. Today, in a letter directed to members of Congress involved in an inquiry into the situation, Sony claimed to have discovered a file on its servers, presumably left by the thieves in question, entitled "Anonymous" and containing a fragment of our slogan, "We are Legion." In response, we would like to raise the following points:

1. Anonymous has never been known to have engaged in credit card theft.

2. Many of our corporate and governmental adversaries, on the other hand, have been known to have lied to the public about Anonymous and about their own activities. HBGary, for instance, was caught lying a number of times to the press, to the public, and to Anonymous itself (in this phone call, for instance, ( YouTube - Aaron Barr talking to anonymous) CEO Aaron Barr makes a number of untrue statements regarding the intent of his "research," claiming for instance that he never tried to sell the information to the FBI when e-mails acquired soon showed that he had been set to do just that; executive Karen Burke was also caught lying to Bloomberg about having not seen an incriminating e-mail that she had in fact replied to just a few days before). The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lied about not having seen the criminal proposal created by them for Team Themis; Palantir lied about not having any idea what their employees were up to; Berico publicly denounced a plan that they had actively engaged in creating; etc. There is no corporation in existence will choose the truth when lies are more convenient.

3. To the contrary, Anonymous is an ironically transparent movement that allows reporters in to our operating channels to observe us at work and which has been extraordinarily candid with the press when commenting on our own activities, which is why reporters prefer to talk to us for truthful accounts of the situation rather than go to our degenerate enemies to be lied to.

4. Whoever broke into Sony's servers to steal the credit card info and left a document blaming Anonymous clearly wanted Anonymous to be blamed for the most significant digital theft in history. No one who is actually associated with our movement would do something that would prompt a massive law enforcement response. On the other hand, a group of standard online thieves would have every reason to frame Anonymous in order to put law enforcement off the track. The framing of others for crimes has been a common practice throughout history.

5. It should be remembered that several federal contractors such as HBGary and Palantir have been caught planning a variety of unethical and potentially criminal conspiracies by which to discredit the enemies of their clients. This is not a theory – this is a fact that has been reported at great length by dozens of journalists with major publications. Insomuch as that our enemies have either engaged in or planned to engage in false flag efforts, it should not be surprising that many of the journalists who have covered us, who know who we are and what motivates us – and who have alternatively seen the monstrous behavior of those large and "respectable" firms that are all too happy to throw aside common decency at the behest of such clients as Bank of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – also have their suspicions that some capable party performed this operation as a means by which to do great damage to Anonymous in the public eye. Those who consider such a prospect to be somehow unlikely are advised to read about what was proposed by Team Themis in their efforts to destroy Wikileaks, and should otherwise take a few minutes to learn about COINTELPRO and other admitted practices by the U.S. intelligence community. The fact is that Anonymous has brought a great deal of discomfort to powerful entities such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Palantir, and much of the federal government; the Justice Department in particular is likely unhappy that our efforts revealed that it was they themselves who recommended the now-discredited "law firm" Hunton & Williams to Bank of America in order that the latter might better be able to fight back against Wikileaks. All of this is now public record, and anyone who finds it laughable that those or other entities may have again engaged in tactics that they are known to have engaged in in the past is not qualified to comment on the situation.

Anonymous will continue its work in support of transparency and individual liberty; our adversaries will continue their work in support of secrecy and control. The FBI will continue to investigate us for crimes of civil disobediance while continuing to ignore the crimes planned by major corporations with which they are in league.

We do not forget, even if others fail to remember. We not forgive, even if others forgive our enemies for those things for which we are attacked. We are legion, and will remain so no matter how many of our participants are raided by armed agents of a broken system.

We are Anonymous."


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If you did read all of that, what your feelings or reactions to this information that been released.


Thanks for reading!

You must login or register to view this content. was subpoenaed by New York Attorney General You must login or register to view this content. over data breaches of its PlayStation Network and Sony Online unit, and representations made to customers, a person familiar with the probe said.

The subpoenas follow the company’s statement that it was attacked by computer hackers between April 16 and April 19. Tokyo-based Sony said May 2 that the attack on its PlayStation Network and Qriocity online music and film service in mid-April also gave hackers access to data from Sony Online Entertainment, a separate unit that makes role-playing games.

Hackers gained access to 23,400 credit card and debit records from non-U.S. customers and the personal account information of 24.6 million account holders through the SOE network alone. The thieves had access to user names, birth dates, addresses and passwords of at least 77 million customers in all, Sony said.

The Tokyo-based company apologized for the breach and said it is cooperating with authorities, including the FBI. The company has faced a legal and regulatory backlash over delays in the time it took lawmakers to warn its customers. Sony alerted customers of a breach on April 26, six days after shutting down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity service.

Schneiderman is seeking information on what Sony told customers about the security of their networks, as part of a consumer protection inquiry, said the person familiar with the matter, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly.

Forensic Evidence

Sony was concerned “that announcing partial or tentative information to consumers could cause confusion and lead them to take unnecessary actions if the information was not fully corroborated by forensic evidence,” the company said in a letter today in response to questions about the breach from the U.S. House subcommittee on commerce and trade.

Patrick Seybold, a spokesman for Sony, said in an e-mailed statement that “we will review and respond to this request and will continue to work with law enforcement authorities as they investigate the criminal attack on our networks.”

Lauren Passalacqua, a spokeswoman for Schneiderman, declined to comment today on the subpoenas.

Hackers exploited a known security vulnerability to gain access to 77 million PlayStation Network and Qriocity user names, addresses, gender, birth dates and other information, Sony has said. It wasn’t clear how many of the 24.6 million accounts in the newly reported breach share duplicate user information.

The FBI’s San Diego office is investigating the matter, said agent Darrell Foxworth, a spokesman for the office.

Service Attack

Sony said in its letter today that while looking into the Sony Online Entertainment breach, it discovered that intruders had “planted a file on one of those servers named ‘Anonymous’ with the words ‘We are Legion.’” The company noted that weeks before several Sony divisions had been the “target of a large- scale, coordinated denial of service attack” by Anonymous, a hacker-activist group.

Sony was singled out in a statement by ‘Anonymous’ after the company sued George Hotz, a 21-year-old hacker who publicized tools for playing unauthorized games on the PlayStation console. The group issued a separate statement denying responsibility for the PlayStation Network disruption, while saying some of its members may be behind it.

“If anyone from AnonOps did that, they’re not talking about it,” said Barrett Brown, an informal spokesman for Anonymous, referring to the “operations” group that carried out so-called denial of service attacks against Sony company websites in April.

Potential Clues

Sony has hired Protiviti Inc., Guidance Software Inc. (GUID) and Data Forte Corp, three cyber security firms, to aid in the breach investigation, according to Seybold. The companies will work with the FBI in tracking potential clues left behind by the hackers and try to discover if the thieves still have access to the gaming network.

In response to the intrusion, Sony also named a new chief information security officer, added software and enhanced encryption to defend against new attacks, implemented new firewalls and expedited its plan to move its system to a new data center with enhanced security.

A lawsuit was filed April 27 in federal court in San Francisco alleging the delay in notification left PlayStation users exposed to losses related to any credit-card data theft. Officials in the U.K. and Ireland began inquiries. And the Toronto law firm McPhadden Samac Tuovi LLP sent out a statement yesterday saying it had commenced a proposed class action against Sony seeking damages in excess of $1 billion.

Exposed Information

The breach of Sony Online Entertainment exposed information from an outdated 2007 database, including about 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates, Sony has said. The credit-card information didn’t include security codes, the company said. The three- and four-digit codes are used as a second source of authentication for many online vendors.

The stolen data may include 10,700 direct debit records of customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. The compromised debit account information included customer names, bank account numbers and account names, Sony has said.

Sony also suggested customer passwords may have been less vulnerable than originally thought.

Passwords were protected by a level of security called hash algorithm in which the word users type in is converted on Sony’s servers to a string of characters entirely unrelated to the original password, Seybold has said on the company’s official blog.

Sony units Computer Entertainment America LLC, Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Online Entertainment LLC were all subpoenaed by the New York Attorney General over the breaches and what the company told customers about them, the person familiar with the matter said.

Just wondering what you guys think....

Will the new PSN come with a brand new shiny OFW? how will this affect CFW's development from hackers/devs out there? will they shy away from CFW's now since the whole geohot lawsuit?

My personal opinion is that most likely a new OFW will come with the new PSN, it would make perfect sense if they are really serious bout security from now on... but that's all speculation for now..no sources and no proofs...

nice thread dude

thank yoU! badly not everyone appreciates my work (like the guy that posted b4 u)
ppl like u makes me have more effort on updating this threads and making betters ones