PSN hacked again!?!...Not realy.

If you tried to enter PSN and saw the above picture I am pretty sure you just whispered or yelled out loud in agony "Not again!". Well we all got a little scared about it being almost convinced that we would never again play online games on PSN. As it turns out we were all going crazy over nothing since it was just a mistake that could if exploited in malicious manner lead to a new leak of personal information. The mistake, being more of a miscalculation, was that you could still change your password by entering your date of birth and your email. Information only known to you.......and the hackers of course. This mistake lead to the PSN being down until the mistake was corrected. Fortunately for us Sony came across it quickly and before anyone could have access to our info again.

via: Engadget
Source: Nyleveia

Sony gives you free games as a welcome back gift.

If you are just little bit spooked by the way your personal data along with mine and some million other PSN users got stolen not more than just a month ago then you can be encouraged to re-enter the network by Sony's latest offer. If you had an account before the 20th of April 2011 you are eligible for two free games, 30 days free PlayStation Plus subscription (that becomes 60 days if you already had one) and a mystery gift for the PlayStation home users that has not been revealed yet. These offers will be available in each country as the restoration takes place.

PS3 users can choose two of the following games:

• LittleBigPlanet
• InFamous
• WipEout HD/Fury
• Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty
• Dead Nation

PSP users can choose two of the following:

• LittleBigPlanet PSP
• ModNation Racers PSP
• Pursuit Force
• Killzone Liberation

If you are from Germany then instead of InFamous and Dead Nation you can get Super Stardust HD and Hustle Kings for the PS3. And for the PSP users instead of Pursuit Force and Killzone Liberation you get JUNGLE PARTY and Everybody's Golf 2.

via: Engadget
Source: PlayStation blog

PSN scheduled for partial restoration today.

As it turns out, yesterdays post about the PSN was only a few hours away from Sony's announcement that gave PSN life. It is not that "IT'S ALIVE..." but it is more than it is partially alive. By partially we mean for both location and services. So the services that are being restored are online gaming, friend chatting, video playback for already owned videos and some third party services like Hulu and Netflix.
As I mentioned above this restoration is partial in terms of location as well since it will be available in North America, Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand with Japan and the rest of Asia following by the end of the month.
So I wouldn't like to hold you any longer, you have some online gaming to do.

You can see the disasters timeline here.

Sources: Financial Times, PC World

Playstation network still off line!!!

When you create an eshop and online gaming network you can be cheap on many things but one, security. Sony knew this very well but you cant always win. That's what happened in Sony's case. Sometimes it's an employees fault, other times is an undiscovered security hole. Whoever it is to blame Sony got hit big time and it cannot recover even after almost a month. Lets see some of the major events in chronological order.

April 17 to 19: This is the period when PSN security was breached. Sony notices strange activity and finally shuts PSN down.

April 20: A security firm is hired to investigate, Sony makes its first public announcement.

April 21: A second security team is hired to offer assistance.

April 23: The security teams confirms that the attacks were sophisticated and coordinated perfectly.

April 26: Sony informs the public that the attackers may have access to personal data like credit card numbers.

May 1: Sony hosts a press conference to inform the public thoroughly. It announces possible PSN recovery by the end of the week.

May 3: Sony claims the hackers behind the attack were members of the well known group anonymous. Found evidence in a file left behind by hackers. The anonymous group deny any involvement.

May 6: Sony announces that the restoration will be delayed.

May 10:  Sony announces there is no firm date for the restoration.
May 15: Partial restoration of PSN for basic services and available only in North America, Europe, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. Read more here. UPDATE

There are no news till today that could shed some light as to whats going on with the network.

For news and everything keep an eye on the blog.

Source: Wired