PSN

Sony starts free games, movie rentals for PSN users

All 77 million of you that had your personal information exposed in the massive breach of PlayStation Network, you can get your free games now.

Sony said this morning that its "Welcome Back" package of free games, movie rentals, and in-game content is available starting today.

Sony initially announced the compensation package in early May as a way to apologize to customers whose names, addresses, birth dates, e-mail addresses, and passwords were compromised when a still-unnamed group of people were able to access 10 Sony servers running its PlayStation Network and Qriocity entertainment service. In addition to the … Read more

Hackers steal more customer info from Sony servers

A group of hackers said today that they have broken into several Sony Web sites and compromised the personal data of more Sony customers.

The group, which calls itself "Lulzsec," is the same group that posted fake news stories on PBS.com over the weekend.

They have been promising Sony attacks since this past weekend, a plan they called "the beginning of the end" for Sony. After being challenged to show what they found, the group today posted links on Twitter to samples of information they compromised on internal Sony networks and Web sites, including Sony … Read more

PlayStation Store back online

Sony flipped the switch tonight to bring the last remaining piece of its PlayStation Network back online, the PlayStation Store.

The company announced the service's return in a blog post, saying that customers once again have access to the store to buy games and movies, rent movies, and download other content for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. Music Unlimited by Qriocity, Sony's streaming music service, is also back online. The service's restoration comes two days later than Sony initially promised last month, when it said all services of PSN would be fully accessible by May 31. … Read more

Sony: PlayStation Store back this week

By the end of the week, Sony says it will flip the switch to bring the rest of its PlayStation Network services, including the PlayStation Store, back online.

The company posted a blog on PlayStation.com late Monday saying that all PSN functionality will return to customers in the Americas, Europe, and some Asian countries, with the exception of Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Music Unlimited by Qriocity will also be back online later this week. Details about service restoration in those countries was not immediately available.

Some services, including the ability to watch previously downloaded movies and play … Read more

City of Taipei wants more info on PSN breach

City officials in Taipei, Taiwan, want more information about how Sony's PlayStation Network was breached, and a guarantee of better consumer protection in the future, according to a report.

The city's Law and Regulations Commission today sent a letter to Sony requesting more help for customers affected, according to IDG News Service. Sony has 10 days to respond before incurring a fine from the commission of between NT$30,000 (U.S. $1,041) and NT$300,000 (U.S. $10,408).

The same commission sent Sony a letter last month when the company first revealed that personal … Read more

Sony takes PSN offline for account maintenance

If you tried to sign into PlayStation Network on your PS3 or PSP in the last 30 minutes, you may have had no luck. Do not be alarmed: Sony says that PSN will be down today but that it's not another security issue.

The company posted today on its PlayStation blog that PSN will be undergoing "maintenance" between 8 a.m. PT and 5 p.m. PT. That means many users will have trouble signing into the service on their PlayStation 3 console or PlayStation Portable handheld, but can still sign in to play games online, including … Read more

Sony's recurring security headaches (week in review)

After nearly four weeks offline, Sony relaunched its PlayStation Network, but not without continuing hurdles.

The entertainment and electronics giant began returning its entire portfolio of online games, game forums, and Web sites to service last weekend. But shortly after service resumed, users started complaining on Twitter that it wasn't active long before it was unavailable again.

Sony said "extremely heavy traffic" was to blame for the service interruptions and said it had to "turn the service off for 30 minutes in order to clear the queue " of too many password resets submitted at once. … Read more

Report: PlayStation Store back online next week

The PlayStation Store might be accessible again as soon as Tuesday, according to a report published today.

Gaming blog Gamasutra says a memo sent from Sony to its game maker partners says May 24 is the date the online store for buying video games and video content will return, unless some problem arises in the meantime.

The letter, from PSN content manager Jack Osorno, reportedly included details of a new game-publishing schedule that would allow Sony to catch up on game releases that were bypassed while the network was offline for more than three weeks.

Sony previously had said only that it aimed to relaunch the store by May 31.

In a comment to gaming site Giant Bomb, Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold said, "We've not announced a specific date other than to say we expect to have the service fully restored by the end of the month. Anything other than that is purely speculative."

The return of the PlayStation Store will complete the relaunch of Sony's gaming network following a cyberattack last month. After more than 77 million PSN customers' personal data was compromised, Sony took the network, along with its Qriocity and Sony Online services, offline while it investigated and rebuilt its network security.

The ability to sign in, change passwords, play games, and watch previously downloaded content returned on Saturday. Yesterday another vulnerability in Sony's security system was found that allowed anyone to change PSN users' passwords if they knew a user's e-mail address and date of birth, both part of the information stolen in the attack last month. Sony closed the loophole and took its PlayStation.com and Qriocity.com Web sites down for repair yesterday, though the game network remains accessible via the PlayStation 3 console and PlayStation Portable handheld device. … Read more

Sony takes sites down after log-in exploit found

Just days after most services for PlayStation Network were brought back online, it appears a new exploit has been discovered that allows hackers to change users' passwords with the data stolen during the break-in to the service last month.

The Web sites that allow PSN users to sign in and reset their passwords have since been taken offline, as the graphic above from PlayStation.com shows. This problem reportedly does not affect the ability to sign in via a PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Portable, just some Sony Web sites.

The report comes from gaming blog Nyleveia, which posted a warning to PSN users … Read more

Sony: PSN back, but no system is 100 percent secure

After switching PlayStation Network back on this past weekend, Sony executives are now speaking out about the security breach and its aftermath.

Several media outlets participated in a call with Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer and Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai today in which the execs admitted Sony still does not know who accessed the personal records of more than 100 million of its customers last month.

Putting the event in context, Stringer said that any company's security system is vulnerable. "Nobody's system is 100 percent secure," Stringer said, according to Bloomberg. "This is a … Read more

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