This thread was originally about PSN being hacked in 2011, but we thought it fitting to make it a general "Oh Sony" thread to contain rants or news about Sony's war on hackers (and hackers' war on Sony).

The original OP is below.


Update 5/31/11: PSN to be back by Friday

IGN said:

Sony said today it will fully restore PlayStation Network and Qriocity services in the Americas, Europe/PAL territories and Asia - excluding Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea - by the end of this week. Service updates for Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea will be available at a later date.

Full restoration for PSN includes:

- Full functionality on PlayStation Store

- In-game commerce

- Ability to redeem vouchers and codes

- Full functionality on Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity for PS3, PSP, VAIO and other PCs

- Full functionality on Media Go
"We have been conducting additional testing and further security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the first class entertainment experience they have come to love," said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation. "We appreciate the patience and support shown during this time."

End 5/31/11 Update.

Kotaku said:

A security breach in the Playstation Network by still unidentified hackers resulted in stolen personal information, Sony confirmed today.

Sony says while personal information was likely stolen they don't believe credit card numbers were and that they hope to have the Playstation Network service back up within a week.

The news comes more than nine days after the intrusion and six days after Sony shut down both the Playstation Network and Qriocity services in reaction to the breach. Sony says they've hired a "recognized security firm" to conduct a complete investigation into what happened and have taken steps to enhance security and strengthen network infrastructure.
"We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network," Patrick Seybold, senior director of corporate communications for Sony Computer Entertainment of America, wrote on the official Playstation Blog today.

Among the possible information stolen:

Name
Address (city, state, zip)
Country
Email address
Birthdate
PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login and handle/PSN online ID.
"While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken," writes Seybold, "we cannot rule out the possibility."

"If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained," Seybold continues.

Sony is encouraging users to be especially aware of potential phishing scams from people using email, phone calls and mail to try and extract more personal or sensitive information from you. Sony also is strongly recommending that you change you password once you're able to log back into the Playstation Network.

"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," Seybold wrote

"We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority. Please contact us at 1-800-345-7669 should you have any additional questions."

Sources
Kotaku

IGN

UPDATE
Sony is being sued.

IGN said:

A class action lawsuit was filed against Sony a day after the company publicly admitted that personal information from PlayStation Network was compromised by a security breach. The lawsuit was filed by the Rothken Law Firm today in a California court and alleges Sony "failed to take reasonable care to protect, encrypt, and secure the private and sensitive data."

Yesterday, Sony said it believes an unauthorized person obtained PSN user information, including members' names, addresses, birthdays, and login passwords. The company said there was no evidence that credit card information was stolen, but did not rule out that possibility.

"We brought this lawsuit on behalf of consumers to learn the full extent of Sony PlayStation Network data security practices and the data loss and to seek a remedy for consumers. We are hopeful that Sony will take this opportunity to learn from the network vulnerabilities, provide a remedy to consumers who entrusted their sensitive data to Sony, and lead the way in data security best practices going forward," said Ira P. Rothken an attorney who filed the class action complaint.

"Sony's breach of its customers' trust is staggering. Sony promised its customers that their information would be kept private. One would think that a large multinational corporation like Sony has strong protective measures in place to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of personal information, including credit card information. Apparently, Sony doesn't," commented J.R. Parker, co-counsel in the case.

The lawsuit seeks monetary compensation for the data loss and "loss of use of the Sony PlayStation Network, credit monitoring, and other relief according to proof."

IGN has contacted Sony for comment.

Maybe I'll get $5 bucks out of all of this. Yay me.

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@carlosrox

lol Umbrella.

I'll admit I didn't pick it up the first time.But you inspired me to take a second look. Subtle .

I found this on reddit:

They updated with a new FAQ

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/28/qa-2-for-playstation-network-and-qriocity-services/

@X-pert74
I don't get it. What's the hat mean? I also forget what DRM even is.

Y'know, people complain about having to pay for LIVE and the limited functionality of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, but you know something? Neither of those services has had such a complete and utterly terrible breakdown of service to their customers. Let alone, TWICE. (yeah, this isn't the first time PSN hasn't worked this gen)

Why Sony, why? Why are you so much fail this gen? You used to be so cool.

@carlosrox I only just now saw this post; good job

@carlosrox The hat is just the way it rolls (in other words I have no idea what the hat means). DRM stands for "Digital Rights Management", and it refers to measures some companies take in a vain effort to keep people from pirating their games. On the PS3 specifically, some Capcom games like Final Fight: Double Impact and Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 have DRM put into place, where you need to have your PS3 connected online whenever you play any of those games. Which means that PS3 players of those two games are currently incapable of playing them no matter what, since there's no offline play. Which is total bullshit, really.

@X-pert74
Thank you I was pretty proud of it lol!

Yeah okay, that's what I was thinking. Yeah it sounds like a stupid ass idea and now that I recall, Mass Effect 2 has it in place and whenever I try to play there's an error. Even though my Internet is working fine, it says it isn't. That's all kinds of fun. This is on the PC too.

So my Facebook page was accessed from Maidenhead, England...

@Guillaume

Wait, so does that mean your personal info was... hacked? Or used somehow?

@GameDadGrant

I don't know. It's possible that using my e-mail address and my PSN password, they got into my facebook account... the only trouble is, I'm fairly sure my PSN and Facebook passwords were at least slightly different. I don't know for sure because I tend to save these passwords in Firefox and forget what variation on my usual password I used.

The other possibility is that, well, Maidenhead is where my company's HO is. And usually stuff like youtube or facebook is blocked at work, but recently I downloaded Firefox on my work computer and discovered nothing was blocked when I used it. I tried logging on facebook that day, and I guess it's possible that if my connection at work actually goes through the HO, then that's actually MY own attempt that facebook was warning me against?

I don't know.

Am I making sense here? Anyway, I didn't take any chance and changed my FB password.

@GameDadGrant I'd still rather not pay for basic online gaming.

@Guillaume If your HQ is there I'd say it is about a 99.99% chance that you logging into Facebook at work is what did it.

WTF, Sony, WTF.

The reset system Sony used when PSN came back online was hackable, so they took it down again. I think that means no one actually hacked it and they found out themselves, but I'm not sure.

Haha, WTF, indeed. Now I almost feel bad for Sony.

@Guillaume

Not quite what I'd call hacking it as anyone can easily obtain such info and use it in this case. But what makes it worse is that the info needed to reset the password was the same info obtained by the hackers in the first downtime. Kind of weird that the password can easily be reset though... what were they thinking?

@Guillaume
Absolutely ridiculous... But kind of funny.

Hmm, maybe they will end up having to offer a 3rd free game. Is it bad that I sort of don't care about any of this, because the net result will be me getting free games?

Wait, so it's back down again? Man, I was lovin' some LBP2 online last night too.

@ludist210

No, it's still up. "In the meantime you will still be able to sign into PSN via your PlayStation 3 and PSP devices to connect to game services and view Trophy/Friends information."

But "PSN sign-in is unavailable for PlayStation.com and the PlayStation forums. Password reset emails now contain a link to a site that cannot be viewed, which will certainly confuse customers."

When do we get our free games? That's all I care about.

@Zero

Whenever the store goes up probably, which is between now and the end of the month... if they don't delay it again.