PSN down, and no DP chatter about it?

[TonyTheTiger]

As Flack outlined above, this is not true.

If storing passwords hashed but not salted is standard practice or otherwise "reasonably prudent" then it is true. That doesn't mean standards can't change and evolve as time goes on. It just would mean that at that specific point in time, Sony was acting "reasonably." "Reasonably prudent" doesn't mean the unreasonable, paranoid person. Neither does it mean "use each and every precaution conceivably available." Even though we all would like people/entities to do just that when our asses are on the line, for better or worse, that's not the way the world works.

I have no idea what the standard is for storing sensitive information. I'm just pointing out that Sony very well may have been acting reasonably prudent, which is, in most cases, enough to absolve blame. At least legal blame. And even if Sony is blameworthy, I don't think they could possibly be more blameworthy than the criminals themselves which is why the outrage seems misplaced to me. Lots of "Sony, pay for this!" and pretty much no "Hey hackers, do not pass Go, do not collect $200!"

[j_factor]

If storing passwords hashed but not salted is standard practice or otherwise "reasonably prudent" then it is true. That doesn't mean standards can't change and evolve as time goes on. It just would mean that at that specific point in time, Sony was acting "reasonably."

I disagree that they were acting reasonably. A network that includes things like digital purchases and subscription services, with 75+ million accounts to boot, should be held to a higher standard of security than, say, an obscure message board on some corner of the internet with about 20 users. If we were talking about the latter, sure, storing passwords hashed only is reasonable. But on a network like PSN, it is not. In fact on any large network it really isn't. It's not as though salting passwords is an arcane practice, something that was just invented last week, or requires an overwhelming amount of resources. The briefest glance at Network Security 101 will tell you that hashing is not enough.

[TonyTheTiger]

I disagree that they were acting reasonably.

And that's your prerogative. Not everybody is going to come to the same conclusions regarding what's reasonable behavior in any given situation. But how other companies in Sony's position, dealing with the same kind of information, handle it would be very persuasive evidence. If Microsoft, Nintendo, Citibank, etc. handle it one way and Sony handles it another, then that would be a strong strike against them. But if they all handle it the same way?

Sure, maybe that just means they're all negligent. But that would be a tougher sell, I think.

It's like when they put a doctor on the witness stand in a medical malpractice case against another doctor. They'll ask the witness whether or not the procedures in question were essentially up to snuff, commonly practiced within that field, or otherwise "the norm." They might toss in the essentially meaningless "within reasonable medical certainty" to fancy it up and drive home "yo, this is how doctors are expected to behave." A doctor could very well screw up yet as long as he performed to the standard of the profession he wouldn't be liable.

So, yeah. Without more information about how companies in a similar position to Sony protect personal data, I can't say one way or the other whether or not Sony took reasonable precautions. Maybe they didn't. But I'm not about to go on a blind witch hunt.

If salting actually is easy and inexpensive to implement then I agree it should be the norm. But I don't know if it actually is the norm at the moment. Somebody who knows about this would have to shed some light on that for me.

[Kid Ice]

I wish everyone would just come out and admit what they're really angry about: the inability to download that Gulliver's Travels movie.

[Rob2600]

But isn't that the problem, though? That no matter how bad the situation gets, Sony gets the blame. And just the same, Sony is expected to be the ones to do the redeeming.

Remember when Google launched Buzz, and early on, it accidentally exposed a bunch of users' personal information? Google was embarrassed, but came forward and admitted to the mistake. People were upset, but at least Google 'fessed up quickly to keep its users informed. It may have cost Google a little credibility in the short term, but it was the right thing to do.

Sony, on the other hand, kept its users in the dark for a week. A week is equivalent to eons in internet time. During that week, the hackers could've been poking around in people's online financial accounts unbeknownst to the victims. If Sony had kept its users informed from the very first minute, I doubt the current backlash would be as severe.

From the tech podcasts I listen to, that is why people are so upset with Sony...not that the network was hacked, not that personal information was obtained, but that Sony pretended everything was fine for a week and kept its users in the dark. I can't stress that enough.


And I happen to think both you and Frankie are clever. :)

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

And I happen to think both you and Frankie are clever. :)

If by "clever" you mean that we have huge cocks.

Yes. Very clever.

[NoahsMyBro]

I don't think we want to know how you know about each others' endowments.

:)

[TonyTheTiger]

I glance away for a few hours and look at what I come back to find. This thread is going places.

[The 1 2 P]

And even if Sony is blameworthy, I don't think they could possibly be more blameworthy than the criminals themselves which is why the outrage seems misplaced to me. Lots of "Sony, pay for this!" and pretty much no "Hey hackers, do not pass Go, do not collect $200!"

The problem is that none of us know who the hackers in question are but we all know who Sony is. I agree that the hackers do get first blame and I'll even differenciate and say that not all hackers are bad. Hacking for fun and your own enjoyment to download emulations or something similiar is fine with me but when you start hacking to cheat in online multiplayer games or to steal people's personal info or intellectual property you've obviously crossed way over the line.

As for Sony's blame, it seems to be two fold at this point. First it appears that they could have done atleast alittle better at protecting their private date and second(as has already been stated by Rob2600) they should have informed their customers earlier than they did.

Again, I definitely blame the hackers first and Sony second but the average person will most likely never even find out who these hackers were and that also puts more heat on Sony because basically people need somebody to vent their anger towards. I would blame Bin Laden but he's kind of dead now and also was a really bad hacker so this was way above his skill level.

[Darren870]

Some more questions answered:
http://kotaku.com/#!5798492/sony-explains-playstation-hack-to-congress-blames-cyberterrorists
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/04/sonys-response-to-the-u-s-house-of-representatives/

The letter to House of Representatives:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblog/sets/72157626521862165/

Edit:
And Oh yay!


We told the subcommittee about our intent to offer complimentary identity theft protection to U.S. account holders and detailed the “Welcome Back” program that 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.

Note: I don't have aPS3 anymore but I did at one point have an acct and got the letter saying my info had been taken :(.

[Icarus Moonsight]

/me watches mailbox intently...

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Gahhh ... just when I thought I was out ... they pull me back in.

Well, Bruce Shneier did anyway.

This is an interesting read on the matter containing the unfiltered opinions of a person that many consider to be an expert in his field.

http://ca.kotaku.com/5797602/dont-blame-sony-you-cant-trust-any-networks

[The 1 2 P]

The latest lawsuit for.......1....billion....dollars (http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sony-being-sued-1-billion-by-canadian-law-firm-over-data-breach/).

[E Nice]

You can't just post that without a pic of Dr.Evil.


The lastest lawsuit for.......
http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/3408/mediumdrevil1.jpg
1....billion....dollars (http://www.industrygamers.com/news/sony-being-sued-1-billion-by-canadian-law-firm-over-data-breach/).

[kupomogli]

Sony details steps that they took after the hack. Only quoting part of it, but read the rest if you'd like. From what it states though, once they confirmed that information was stolen, we were notified the next day. So Sony didn't know day one that the information was stolen, they just knew that their was a breach in their system and took it offline until they checked it out. So technically, we were all notified within a day, not a week.


On April 19, at 4:15 p.m. Pacific, members of the Sony Network Entertainment America network team detected unauthorized activity in the network system, according to the letter.

"The network service team immediately began to evaluate this activity by reviewing running logs and analyzing information in order to determine if there was a problem with the system," Hirai writes.

On April 20, in the early afternoon, the team discovered evidence that the unauthorized intrusion had occurred and that data of some kind had been taken from the Playstation Network servers. The team didn't know what the data was, so they shut the system down.

That shut down kicked off what Hirai calls an "exhaustive and highly sophisticated process of identifying the means of access and the nature and scope of the theft."

Later that afternoon, Sony Network Entertainment of America brought on a "recognized security and forensic consulting firm" to copy the servers and begin a deeper investigation in the break in. As the investigation continued, Hirai writes, the scope and complexity grew.

On April 21, Sony brought in a second computer security and forensic consulting form to help. By the evening of April 23, the experts confirmed that intruders had used "very sophisticated and aggressive techniques" to break into the network undetected.

On Easter Sunday, now realizing how serious the breach was, Sony brought on a third team that specialized in these sorts of intrusions. By April 25, the teams confirmed that personal data had been stolen from the network, but still could not determine whether credit card info was stolen.

On April 26 Sony notified users that personal information had been taken and that they could not rule out credit card theft.

http://kotaku.com/#!5798492/sony-explains-playstation-hack-to-congress-blames-cyberterrorists

[j_factor]

They still should've notified us all when they shut the system down, why they did so.

[exit]

Sony details steps that they took after the hack. Only quoting part of it, but read the rest if you'd like. From what it states though, once they confirmed that information was stolen, we were notified the next day. So Sony didn't know day one that the information was stolen, they just knew that their was a breach in their system and took it offline until they checked it out. So technically, we were all notified within a day, not a week.

So in short, the breach happened that Wednesday and they didn't know the severity of it until Monday, which is when they made the announcement about the personal data being stolen. I thought this would have been common knowledge by now, but I guess a hater is gonna hate right?

Again I'm not saying that Sony isn't without fault here, but people are acting like they kept the entire breach a secret and then laid it all out on us a week later.

[The 1 2 P]

You can't just post that without a pic of Dr.Evil.

I knew I forgot something. Good looking out;)

[The 1 2 P]

Looks like Sony was more guilty of their portion of the blame (http://www.industrygamers.com/news/playstation-network-disaster-key-parts-had-no-firewall-installed/) then we initially thought. Looks like those two lawsuits will have alittle bit of ground to work with now.

[Rob2600]

Looks like Sony was more guilty of their portion of the blame (http://www.industrygamers.com/news/playstation-network-disaster-key-parts-had-no-firewall-installed/) then we initially thought. Looks like those two lawsuits will have alittle bit of ground to work with now.

From the article:

"Dr. Gene Spafford, a professor of computer science at Perdue University since 1987 and an expert in information security (he's the editor of the oldest journal in the field of information security), was part of a panel that provided testimony on just how terribly weak Sony's system was. Spafford pointed out that numerous weaknesses in Sony's system actually became evident via security mailing lists a considerable time (read: months) before the breach occurred.

Worse yet, Spafford noted that key parts of PSN actually ran on Apache servers that "were unpatched and had no firewall installed." He said that this was known because of comments in a forum frequently visited by Sony employees.

Bottom line: if the severe network weaknesses were known months in advance and Sony made no attempts to enhance the security of their systems, even as major threats were being made publicly by Anonymous, then Sony looks highly culpable for negligence in this fiasco."


The frightening thing is: how many other giant companies have similarly unprotected networks??

[TonyTheTiger]

The frightening thing is: how many other giant companies have similarly unprotected networks??

That's exactly my point. Even taking this as true, we still don't know whether or not that qualifies as negligent. Sure, in hindsight (or even foresight depending on how knowledgeable a person might be) this looks bad. And no doubt about it, it is bad. But depending on how things play out, Sony might just be able to say "But this is just how it's always been done." At some point that excuse might not fly as the world gradually gets more sophisticated. But there's still a chance it might work today depending on the norms this industry and others operate on day to day.

It's scary to think that huge companies we trust with our information are not Fort Knox. But I wouldn't be surprised to hear that it's a pretty common thing.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The frightening thing is: how many other giant companies have similarly unprotected networks??

From:

http://ca.kotaku.com/5797602/dont-blame-sony-you-cant-trust-any-networks

(Again, worth a read in full if you haven't yet.)

Bruce Shneier, internationally renowned security technologist and author of Applied Cryptography, Secrets and Lies and Schneier on Security, said:

... "Everyone is probably equally sucky," he said of network security in general. "Some may be better than others."

"Unfortunately, the moral here is that you give your information to a third-party, blindly trusting them, a bank, a credit card company, a phone company, Amazon, J. Crew, or Sony. You are blinding trusting that they will use the information wisely and secure it. And you have no say how they do that and you have no recourse if they fuck up."

But, the famously cynical Schneier adds, "Even with all of that, most people are really safe all of the time."

"You're doing OK, I'm doing OK. I buy stuff online all of the time. I bank online. And what other option is there?"

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Sorry for the double post, this was too noteworthy to let go.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/05/a-letter-from-howard-stringer/

A program for U.S. PlayStation Network and Qriocity customers that includes a $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user was launched earlier today and announcements for other regions will be coming soon.

Alrighty then.

So we all get free identity theft insurance good for up to $1,000,000.00 per user with Debix.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/05/sony-offering-free-allclear-id-plus-identity-theft-protection-in-the-united-states-through-debix-inc/

No matter what side of the issue you're on, I hope that we're all capable of seeing that as a decent (also necessary) reparation.

[kupomogli]

Nevermind.

[DuckTalesNES]

Completely agree that this move by Sony is necessary and satisfactory. Much better than some free games or crap like that.

[Rickstilwell1]

Hmm, now to wonder when they will get the network back online. If this thread gets its name changed to "PSN now back online" or a new thread is created for that, that would be awesome. I don't want to hook my PS3 back up until it's fixed.

Has anyone had any problems with their digital downloads after accepting the changes in April? I want to make sure Vandal-Hearts: Flames of Judgement and Sonic 4: Episode I both still work just fine.

[Icarus Moonsight]

No matter what side of the issue you're on, I hope that we're all capable of seeing that as a decent (also necessary) reparation.

Decent? I'm shocked... They did something perfectly right.

[Vlcice]

That's exactly my point. Even taking this as true, we still don't know whether or not that qualifies as negligent.

It doesn't matter if other companies do the same thing, hooking up an unpatched server to the open network without a firewall is negligent. It's also worth noting that leaving your server in that state after being told it's vulnerable, even as a hacker group is publicly announcing it will target you, is also negligent.

[Rob2600]

That's exactly my point. Even taking this as true, we still don't know whether or not that qualifies as negligent.

It doesn't matter if other companies do the same thing, hooking up an unpatched server to the open network without a firewall is negligent. It's also worth noting that leaving your server in that state after being told it's vulnerable, even as a hacker group is publicly announcing it will target you, is also negligent.

True. Also, what I find weird is $40 home routers have firewalls, but online servers for storing people's personal information don't? How could that have happened? Even the most entry-level IT person knows about firewalls. The whole situation seems very odd.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Whether or not it's a matter of what is or is not "industry standard",

in this day and age the potential for sub-par network security on a massive entertainment platform is indeed a problem that hackers have, through this Sony fiasco exposed to the public and to the mainstream media.

I know that saying what has happened in the past is moot isn't what some people want to hear, but frankly, unless a company has professed that they're not going to make changes to fix/better the situation, it is ultimately moot. It looks like the message of many was clearly heard, understood and taken seriously and changes have been made.

And, hopefully other companies that may hold our personal/sensitive data and may have similarly not encrypted every level of data are now scrambling to take similar measures based on the public outcry and government involvement in this case. That would actually be an unaccounted for positive to come out of this.

Aside from everything that Sony is reporting about increasing and monitoring security moving forward, I'm quite certain that they'll be running the top of the line firewalls and encrypting everything on every single level of their database that needs it when they flip that switch back on. I shudder to think of the repercussions if they were to bring the network back up and somebody uncovers that it's running identically to the way it was prior to the compromise.

And, as far as I'm aware there are still no reports of fraud directly linked to this intrusion. Shortly Sony will be footing the bill on identity protection/insurance services for all registered PSN users, so, hopefully that will stave off any potential damage there.

Total clusterfuck of a situation? Yes indeedy. Total.

Reasonable outcome from said clusterfuck?

Looks like it to me, and even some less optimistic folks I've discussed it with seem to think that this was the best that we could have hoped for all things considered.


Public apology.
Internal identification/recognition of technical/security failings.
Correction of those failings that addresses both the problem that occurred and the possibility for other similar and/or potentially unrelated security problems.
Complimentary products and fraud protection/insurance services offered to all affected.


Aside from the random people who want "emotional damages" accounted for/addressed, what else would Sony need to do to reasonably rectify this thing?

[skaar]

http://news.consumerreports.org/electronics/2011/05/data-security-expert-sony-knew-it-was-using-obsolete-software-months-in-advance.html?EXTKEY=I91CONL&CMP=OTC-ConsumeristRSS


In congressional testimony this morning, Dr. Gene Spafford of Purdue University said that Sony was using outdated software on its servers—and knew about it months in advance of the recent security breaches that allowed hackers to get private information from over 100 million user accounts.

According to Spafford, security experts monitoring open Internet forums learned months ago that Sony was using outdated versions of the Apache Web server software, which "was unpatched and had no firewall installed." The issue was "reported in an open forum monitored by Sony employees" two to three months prior to the recent security breaches, said Spafford.

Spafford made his comments in a hearing convened by the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. Sony was invited to participate in the hearing, but declined to attend. In a letter to the committee, Sony said it has added automated software monitoring and enhanced data security and encryption to its systems in the wake of the recent security breaches.

"If Dr. Spafford's assessment is accurate, it's inexcusable that Sony not only ran obsolete software on servers containing confidential data, but also that the company continued to do so after this information was publicly disclosed," said Jeff Fox, Consumer Reports Technology Editor.

And this is why you stop bugging the IT guys with your stupid Word problems and let them upgrade the damn servers.

The IT guys will get fired over it anyway.

Also: They shut down when there was a breach but they couldn't have known the damage done immediately. I'm actually OK with them on the delay, but not with the lack of maintenance/diligence on their systems.

[tomwaits]

Public apology.
Internal identification/recognition of technical/security failings.
Correction of those failings that addresses both the problem that occurred and the possibility for other similar and/or potentially unrelated security problems.
Complimentary products and fraud protection/insurance services offered to all affected.


Aside from the random people who want "emotional damages" accounted for/addressed, what else would Sony need to do to reasonably rectify this thing?

You forgot the bullet item for vengeance. I want them to track down whoever's responsible and send them to jail. Not a slap on the wrist, or fine, or warning to stay away like Hotz... massive identity theft needs a massive, headline news penalty to discourage future hackers.

"PlayStation Hackers sentenced to 100 years" sounds about right...

[Icarus Moonsight]

I would think the most important lesson for anyone to take away from this is stay on top of your liabilities. It happened because they were discovered to be a soft target with a giant unguarded honey pot and that discovery was put out public.

As far as punishment for the intruders? Make them pay for all Sony's costs incurred plus reparations, also for the insurance. If you can tie any fraud to them where individuals' sensitive data was used, let them pay for that plus reparations. Can't pay? Put them on one of those 'shovel ready projects' - pulling double shifts till they balance out.

[The 1 2 P]

True. Also, what I find weird is $40 home routers have firewalls, but online servers for storing people's personal information don't? How could that have happened? Even the most entry-level IT person knows about firewalls. The whole situation seems very odd.

Another way to put it is like this: my $500 laptop is more secure than that part of Sony's servers were. I realize that hackers can break thru almost any security if they are that determined(and bored) but atleast make them fight for it.

Regardless of the amends Sony plans to make to regain favor in the public's eyes, their chances at winning those two(so far) lawsuits just went down about 600% after it was revealed that they did indeed know about security issues with their servers months in advance of the attack. It still might turn out that this wasn't true at all but if it was then Sony will be literally paying for it in court for years to come. And it will also tarnish their brand further when the general public learns about it.

[JSoup]

So, still working on solving the problem:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/06/service-restoration-update/

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

So, still working on solving the problem:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/06/service-restoration-update/

Yeah. This is why companies should never make promises that include hard deadlines.

Everybody go ahead and insert joke about the PSN never coming back up.

They deserve it if it's not back by Sunday.

[Icarus Moonsight]

http://www.nerdsraging.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/ripPSN.png

[Sabz5150]

PSN is down?

Sorry, been too busy playing New Vegas to notice.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b328/FrankieViturello/PSNYUNO.png

[The 1 2 P]

http://i494.photobucket.com/albums/rr306/THE-1-2-P/17347-219218-1.jpg

[Dobie]

http://www.obscureprotest.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/protest-2.jpg

...because every time you turn on your Playstation, you PRAY it gets online!

I'll be here all week. 2 free drinks with paid admission.

[Icarus Moonsight]

http://psnfail.com/playstation_network_fail.jpg

Also, the firm Sony hired to help investigate the hacking has been confirmed:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5310/5661688742_74f707cb30.jpg

[kupomogli]

According to a Sony spokesperson based in Tokyo, the PlayStation Network might not come back online fully until May 31.

It sucks, but I'd rather them make sure this isn't going to happen again than to be back online in a week only to be hacked again and pulled back down.

http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/86029/sony-uncertain-on-psn-return-could-come-may-31/

[NayusDante]

At this point, I'm expecting the restoration of PSN as an E3 announcement. Not a bad opportunity to rev up the service and market it as PSN 2.0.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

It sucks, but I'd rather them make sure this isn't going to happen again than to be back online in a week only to be hacked again and pulled back down.

http://gamrfeed.vgchartz.com/story/86029/sony-uncertain-on-psn-return-could-come-may-31/

I agree that they should make it as secure as they're able to in whatever time that they have prior to bringing everything back online. I also fully expect the waiting game to continue to sour the feelings of those that are frustrated/angry about the whole thing.

The whole thing just plain sucks. I do hope that they find whoever is responsible.

[NayusDante]

I just thought of something. You know how 3.60 gives Sony to "remotely execute code" on any connected PS3? If Sony's servers were compromised, then in theory, someone could gain control of that system. The result could, again just in theory, be a PS3 botnet capable of DDoSing PSN. That's probably the worst-case scenario and more Skynet than Sony, but I'm wondering if Sony should question that feature.

I'm looking forward to reading the changelog in the next firmware update, which I'm guessing will be forced out simultaneously with the PSN service restoration.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Cloudjacked. LOL

[Dobie]

http://www.istheplaystationnetworkbackup.info/

This made me chuckle. Its likely just as informative as Sony's official blog.

[JSoup]

http://www.examiner.com/video-game-news-in-national/psn-goes-live-for-some-developers

Good sign, I guess.

[JSoup]

Semi related, it looks like SquareEnix got hacked as well.

http://www.ps3trophies.org/news/news-3588-Square-Enix-Hacked--Deus-Ex-and-Tomb-Raider-Websites-Attacked.html

[TonyTheTiger]

Semi related, it looks like SquareEnix got hacked as well.

http://www.ps3trophies.org/news/news-3588-Square-Enix-Hacked--Deus-Ex-and-Tomb-Raider-Websites-Attacked.html

Ok, that's it. Calling in the big guns.

http://www.piratesk12site.net/diehard350.jpg

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

PSN isn't back up yet, but mandatory software update available now for download.

Worth doing in advance so when the network is back it's one less thing you'll have to do.

Details here: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/14/ps3-system-software-update/

[megasdkirby]

I'll update once I know the firmware is safe and possibly brick systems.

I know it's a rare occurrence, but I won't be taking any chances for now.

[exit]

I was going to post this, but looks like Frankie beat me to it. I just downloaded the update, thought it was best to do it now, rather than when everyone else is. This more than likely means that the PSN will be up sometime soon, some speculate as early as tonight.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Phase 1 of restoration has begun.

So says Kaz:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/14/kazuo-hirai-playstation-network-relaunch-announcement/

[heybtbm]

Phase 1 of restoration has begun.

So says Kaz:

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/14/kazuo-hirai-playstation-network-relaunch-announcement/

I just watched the whole thing. OK...PSN is back online? At least online gameplay, friends, trophies, etc? I'm downloading the update as we speak. I guess I'll find out soon.

[megasdkirby]

It's a state by us state basis.

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/14/play-on-–-psn-restoration-begins-now/

Fuck it, I'm updating now.

[JSoup]

I went ahead and updated, given that when everything does come back online, it's going to get hammered to hell and back what with everyone updating their trophies and downloading games.

[heybtbm]

Just finished installing the update...no PSN access yet. Still, this is something.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I went ahead and updated, given that when everything does come back online, it's going to get hammered to hell and back what with everyone updating their trophies and downloading games.

Yeah, rolling it out state by state will help with load balance issues. Still expect the network to be hammered.

[NayusDante]

The image on the PS blog is just a static image right now.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2087/5719595599_89a219dce4_z.jpg

At any rate, my PS3 Blu Ray laser crapped out this week and I "upgraded" to a slim today. Of course, I formatted my phat while diagnosing the issue, so I can't set up Netflix again until PSN is back. The update went fine on my new slim, which is a CECH-2501A if that helps anyone worried about bricks.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Aaaaaand the PSN blog is crashed. Probably overloaded from news outlets, blogs, message boards and twitter posts linking directly to it.

[megasdkirby]

Aaaaaand the PSN blog is crashed. Probably overloaded from news outlets, blogs, message boards and twitter posts linking directly to it.

Just refreshed and it works. Upper right USA has PSN access.

I bet PR will be last. :p

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

We're officially back on in New Jersey!

w00t!

[Vlcice]

Just refreshed and it works. Upper right USA has PSN access.

I bet PR will be last. :p

I see they didn't even put Canada on the map... if they were only hooking up the US they should have at least said so.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I see they didn't even put Canada on the map... if they were only hooking up the US they should have at least said so.

Well, that is the US blog ... but yes, it would be nice to know when Canada, Europe, Japan, etc. will be back online as well.

[NayusDante]

I just took a closer look at the map. Apparently, Puerto Rico has shifted far to the west and doubled in size, and Cuba is gone. I didn't know a network intrusion could do that...

[NayusDante]

Check this out. (http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/05/14/play-on-%E2%80%93-psn-restoration-begins-now/) Scroll down and read the comments.

Apparently, part of their new security system is reducing the number of PSN accounts to one for everyone to share. Our new collective PSN ID is "jitender."

[NayusDante]

Aaaaand Florida is back online.

[exit]

Yup, back up here in FL. For a second there I was starting to get impatient.

[kupomogli]

Glad it's back up. Not much, but I've been waiting to finish that game of Dead Nation and Sacred 2 I've started with a friend.

[Vlcice]

Well, that is the US blog ... but yes, it would be nice to know when Canada, Europe, Japan, etc. will be back online as well.

There is no Canadian blog - all the North American news comes through the US blog.

[megasdkirby]

Does anyone know if PR was last on the list?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

There is no Canadian blog - all the North American news comes through the US blog.

Ah, that's interesting. Do US and CAN regions share identical releases/release dates on the PSN store etc.?

Looks like the Canadian section of the map while not detailed is illuminated now. Is service back on there?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/5719596227_3ab54e351b_z.jpg

"Everything is Illuminated"

[Vlcice]

Ah, that's interesting. Do US and CAN regions share identical releases/release dates on the PSN store etc.?

Yes, and playstation.ca redirects users to the American PSN updates on us.playstation.com instead of having its own section.


Looks like the Canadian section of the map while not detailed is illuminated now. Is service back on there?

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2758/5719596227_3ab54e351b_z.jpg

Seems to be as of this morning! Hooray.

I notice the map is not only not as detailed, they chop off Newfoundland and the territories. If they were going to be illuminating Canada they could at least have included every province and territory.