PSN gaming network outage sparks DDoS rumours

Outage of the PlayStation network today sparked unconfirmed rumours that the downtime may be down to a denial of service attack. Perhaps the PSN network is just having a bit of a nap, but global problems in logging into the online gaming network have given rise to speculation that it is due either to a DDoS or hacking from a …

[Benny]

To be fair

The PSN has been pretty crap for a while now, always kicks me out of games telling me im not signed in anymore, then other times just won't find the PSN at all.

Prob nothing to do with DDoS, just the pretty crap service they offer - but then you don't pay for it, so swings and roundabouts.

[Anonymous Coward]

No problems here.

It's a very decent service, with no memorable outages, unlike Microsoft and the 2 week Xmas outage...

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/03/xbox-live-outage-day-13-still-up-and-down-still-preventing-fu/

The difference of course is that Xbox Live is a paid for service, and the downtime was cause by Microsoft incompetence/lack of caring rather than DDoS attacks by upset pikeypirates/freetards.

[nematoad]

Lucky you

I have noticed that getting onto PSN has been rather hit and miss over the past couple of weeks. I contacted the help desk and they confirmed that the account was all in order. I could access other things via the PS3 like BBC iplayer but not PSN or LoveFilm. Checked my router, that was OK but following the help desk instructions I switched the router off for a time. The PS3 loggted onto PSN for a while then dropped off again. This has been happening ever since. On one minute off the next. I don't see that Sony need any DDoS attacks, they seem to be doing a grand job all by themselves. Bah!

[DrXym]

Little bit flakey last night

I couldn't sign in on the first attempt last night but it worked thereafter. It could be issues related to Steam in Portal 2 or simply some kind of network issue or it could be the children from Anonymous venting their impotent rage. In any event it'll probably clear up.

[MJI]

A few problems

I have to relog in every time I log into PSN on the PS3.

I haven't been able to log into naughtydog either for a few days, oi there is lots I want to read & post about Uncharted 3!

[Anonymous Coward]

My guess

Anyone that's downloaded Low orbit ion cannon will be having a visit from the old bill VERY seeon indeed.

[Anonymous Coward]

No they won't

Just downloading software is not against the law.

[Anonymous Coward]

'Tis assuming most of those that download it will use it for nefarious purposes

Seriously, how many of these idiots do you expect are actually interested in the source code or using it for legitimate reasons? Most of them will be too tempted by the big shinny "Fire" button (or whatever it is). Serves them right.

[Highlander]

Downloading isn't an issue, but running it is...and...

when their IPs are tracked and traced and they are identified, that's when they will pay the price. However those behind such action or tools are seldom held accountable, only the small fry who do the work because they are the ones risking exposure by running such attack software.

Not that this is necessarily caused by LOIC of course, we don't know. But whatever the source, it does rather confirm Sony's argument that the patform must remain secure to maintain the network's security.

[Anonymous Coward]

Huh

why would you download it and not use it?

Clearly anyone that has run this and contibuted to the DDoS attacks will be getting a visit from the law. I'm guessing they are too thick to work out that the server logs will show their IP address.

[Anomalous Cowturd]

Re: Huh

> I'm guessing they are too thick to work out that the server logs will show their IP address.

The stupid ones might be.

The more tech savvy / incarceration averse will probably be using a BackTrack live CD, macchanger and somebody else's open or WEP protected Wi-fi...

Or so I've heard...

[Anonymous Coward]

So where is the PSN status checker?

I'd love to be able to see a status report of this flaky PoS so I can tell how many times it's my crappy BT Home Hub and how many times Sony is having a lie down.....

[Anonymous Coward]

Chances are its both..

My BT Home Hub is the most useless router I've ever used. It can usually hold a stable wireless connection for a few hours at most, and requires restarting several times a day. BT's engineers tried to tell me there was too much interference in the area..funnily enough there is another [unsecured] router which always works fine. I cannot wait to leave BT and their stupid hub although to be fair their broadband connection is pretty solid and never gives any trouble. As for PSN, I often struggle to sign on to it even when my PS3 can access the internet so it doesn't seem to be much better than the home hub.

Maybe PSN are using a series of home hubs to serve the network??

[richard 7]

@Homehub using AC

Run netstumbler or similar and fins a clear is channel

Phone BT and ask please, could they turn off the BT FON service you didnt ask for. You did know this is broadcasting two open networks in addidtion to yours didnt you?

Then in the web UI diasble BTOpenZone and take the Wi-Fi channel off of Auto and set it to your clear channel.

These things are utter shite but the fact that each HomeHub uses three bastard channels is not helpful!

[The Alpha Klutz]

much easier solution though

1. unplug homehub

2. place directly into bin

3. buy generic cheapy router

4. install your choice of modded/open firmware

5. success

[leon stok]

@benny

I had some issues like that, where it turned out the DNS from my ISP was crapping out occasionally. Setting DNS to opendns or google solved the issue for me. No issues like that at all for me (and being onine quite a bit..)

On the outages.. probably DDOS going on. i was able to sign in yesterday without much issues though.

[LuMan]

All seems OK here, too

Must say I've not noticed any lack of availability when connecting via my PS3 or PSP. Both go through my BT HomeHub (PS3 wired, PSP WiFi). In fact, the only time I've not been able to get onto PSN is when the HomeHub threw a wobble about 4 months ago.

WRT DDoS attackers, these people are not heroic revolutionaries, fighting for our rights. They're f*cking morons who need to grow up and perhaps get a girlfriend (and not a fugging digital one!).

My tuppeny-worth!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sony's forums are also down

At the time of writing, Sony's player forums for PC and PS3 (http://forums.station.sony.com/ and chums) are spewing all sorts of "service unavailable" errors, random "down for maintenance" pages, and so forth.

It might just be a coincidence, of course, but I have never seen them this buggered before (even allowing for the fact that it's SOE).

As Nelson Muntz said, "ha ha!".

[Oliver Mayes]

Gah, tautology

PSN stands for PlayStation Network, referring to 'the PSN network' is therefore redundant.

[Loyal Commenter]

The first rule of tautology club...

...is the first rule of tautology club.

http://xkcd.com/703/

[davethebarb]

Not quite...

The PlayStation Network is the name of the service. The PlayStation Network network, as dumb as it may sound, would therefore be the network that the PSN service operates on.

[CD001]

Portal 2

Wasn't Portal 2 released a day or two ago on both the PC and PS3 - maybe it's had such a massive uptake it's floored the PSN :) Either that or GladOS has gotten into the systems!

[Loyal Commenter]

I believe the release date

is today

[Anonymous Coward]

no..

was at least yesterday, i've had it installed since yesterday afternoon.. others on my friends list have had it maybe 20-odd hours longer..

[Oliver Mayes]

Nope

Was meant to be released Tuesday in the states and Friday in Europe.

But they did some clever viral marketing and offered to release it early online if enough people played some of their other games. They succeeded and it was released on Steam worldwide very late on Monday. Most stores worldwide then unanimously decided that all of them breaking the street date and selling it in store was better than losing several days sales to online.

[Anonymous Coward]

Steamworks.

Portal2 on PS3 uses steamworks rather than PSN.

It's why it's got the better features than the gimped Xbox version. (PS3 version has free user-generated content delivered via steamworks, cloud saving, streaming updates etc etc etc).

That's of course in addition to the MUCH better graphics on the PS3 version.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/5606/portal-2-ps3-vs-xbox-360-screens-comparison

[Eradicate all BB entrants]

Steamingpile

Portal2 on PC uses Steam rather than PSN (D-Link router and home NAS?)

It's why it's got the better features than the gimp who owns the PS3 version (PC games have had free user generated content since the 90's, cloud saving (Isn't webmail 'cloud saving'?) and streaming updates? really? wow......a bit like Unreal Tourney did so you didn't need to install every single map or mod ever created?

That's of course in addition to the MUCH better graphics on the PC version

http://www.sitethatshitsonyourparade.com

As for PSN being down, don't worry, should be back up by the time your console game has installed

[Anonymous Coward]

As a paying SOE customer..

..I can't honestly tell if this is a DDoS, or just business as usual. They aren't really the kings of reliability, or keeping you informed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Anonymous

If the lot of them got rounded up, arrested and jailed I would have no sympathy for any of them. Hope someone tracks them down and at minimum tells their mums.

Anyone that thinks these muppets are anything other than morons need to grow the f*&k up.

[Mr Common Sense]

Sony shills can suck it.

Whats the matter? Can baby not suckle on Sonys teat?

If anyone needs to grow up, it's you.

A lot of people who couldn't care less about Sony stopping PS3 owners using otherOS are now crying because they can't use the PS3 the way they want to, now isn't that funny.

[KroSha]

Still down

I saw the service was down this morning. Still down, but the Twitter feed now states it's "down for maintenance". Unscheduled and long-lasting maintenance, obviously.

[Carol Orlowski]

Still another 13 day to beat Mictosoft's record

As title...

[Daniel Gould]

Maybe they're on Amazon EC2 out of N Virginia....

'nuf said.

[Momma_B]

it's been weeks now...

Today is especially bad but the past few weeks, service has been spotty. Getting tired of "failure to sign-in" messages. As big as Sony is, can't they fix this?

[Scott 2]

Happy?

Cool story bro.

[shadowshenf8]

happy

ya happy if people who suck so bad and have to cheat would all sell thier playstations

[sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD]

Don't forget the DOS attack that really hurts....

Denial Of Sales.

Don't buy Sony.

I recently advised 3 people against buying Sony products. Stated reasons why. Showed links. 2 found alternatives. One is... still precontemplative. 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

Don't get me wrong, I've never had issues with Sony kit. The PS3 is a remarkable feat, for example and I still have Sony cassette walkman that work.

It's what Sony have become.

If they publicly recant, I may have a change of heart but till then, I will maintain this stance.

[Theo55]

PSN

When do you think that the PSN will be back up and running?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not the work of Anonymous

From the Anonymous Facebook page:

"ATTENTION: For everyone coming here complaining about the PSN or inquiring about it, We Do Not Know What Happened" "This is not the work of Anonymous."

Anonymous claim credit for their attacks, they don't disown them. It's either another group or it's just a genuine failure of some sort.

[Highlander]

Anonymous is a loose collective...

Do you really think that the left hand knows what the right hand is doing? Or, for that matter has an control over it? Of course they're denying any responsibility or involvement, it's an incredibly unpopular move, The folks running their facebook page are evidently not total dolts.

[Carol Orlowski]

They don't if they know the outrage it causes.

This IS the result of anonymous, if they claim it or not.

[Theo55]

PSN

Do you think this might be a matter of days or weeks?

[Anonymous Coward]

EVIL

Had problems accessing to PSN yesterday and today. Sony's stupid recent actions had made it target for those who want to defend the threatened small guys who were just trying to get more freedom using the product they already own.

Until they improve their attitude, I consider Sony to be evil and not worth supporting.

[sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD]

Evil. Agree.

But DOS them *FOR* *REAL* - Deny them Of Sales.

Don't buy Sony. Tell your friends. Tell your family.

What does Sony actually make that is actually *necessary* for life? For most people they make *nice to have* not *need to have* items, so often buying or avoiding Sony is possible.

Like I said in a prior post above. It can work.

Enough people avoid Sony and making noise maybe even local consumer electronic shops may reconsider their stocking of Sony products... Sure this may not happen, but like many things before sometimes surprising things can come about if enough people are pissed off.

A drop of water is nothing, but multiply that by several orders of magnitude if possible...

Sony is probably only realising how many people they have pissed off now.

[Arse Face]

Laughable

A multibillion dollar company. Pathetic.

[Anonymous Coward]

bugger Bugger Bugger

Was going to watch Hurt Locker on LoveFilm for ps3 tonight and now cant. Oh well, its off to do RL stuff....

[Anonymous Coward]

Single player is where the real action is

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/4/22/

[John Goodwin 4]

I knew this would come in handy...

./speccy\-32bpp -48 -scale 2 -cursor -wave JETPAC.SNA

[Wize]

The current word from Sony...

They are shoring up security on their servers before letting the public back on them. So whatever attack it was is over, but they want to make sure there are no more security problems.

No word of how big the breach was (eg were credit card details released).

No word on when they expect to be up and running.

[Gruffy]

Sony take'uth away

Maybe they have removed the online feature.... & just didn't tell anyone!

[shadowshenf8]

worse things than this going on

how about we focus out attention to our brave brothers and sisters that are getting wounded or dieing so we can even have this .......get a grip people itl come back on ......go play mafia wars!!!

[shadowshenf8]

my friend was online yesterday

i was telling a friend ..via facebook.....about the outage.He checked his system and he was able to get on the psn........?............when he called sony they said his system was hacked for usage and they are taking in his system to replace it for ....free....i say not bad for a free service.See sony is not bad and own up to thier responsibilities please be patient

[Amir Shah]

No further info

According to the site they are not saying when this will be fixed. See link http://us.playstation.com/support/answer/?a_id=2185

[shadowshenf8]

couldnt log into site

no news is good news on the account aspect of things

[Fuh Quit]

Don't speak too soon

I for one am glad I used fake name, address (even country) and DoB. Oh and no credit card.

Anyone else happy 'bout that?

[shadowshenf8]

so i see now lol

yes i see there could be an issue the only issue i have so far is no psn for now ......havent recieved an email yet eother tho

[shadowshenf8]

yes but

they are not sure and dont have grounds to rule out the possibility they have obtained the security question with out that it is useless