Like I said I would write a full post for the weekend so here it is...
Suppose I had better get it out the way and talk about the elephant in the room. I am of course talking about the Sony PSN hack.
On April 20th the Sony PSN was taken offline due to an unauthorized intrusion, at this point 77 million users cannot play games online, access their accounts or purchase from the online store. Sony hired a number of computer security and forensic teams to delve through 130 servers and 50 programmes to try and gain information on what caused the intrusion and what information may have been taken.
April 26th, nearly a week after the PSN went down, Sony released a public notice stating that over 75 million users account information had been stolen, including names, addresses, passwords, email addresses and possibly credit card information.
Obviously there was a huge public outcry. How could the information be stolen? Why was it not encrypted? Why did it take Sony 6 days to let the public know that their information was lost? All these questions have yet to be answered but Sony are doing their best to rectify the situation. A number of security firms have been brought onto the case and Sony are working with local law enforcement agencies to try and get to the bottom of this issue.
They have also offered free credit insurance for US citizens with the rest of the world soon to follow. If that wasn’t enough once the network is back up Sony will be handing out free games as compensation to the loyal users of the Playstation brand. However some people still feel this isn’t enough with class action lawsuits being filed in the States, one in particular claiming $1 billion in damages (Come on dude really!?).
Recent findings lead Sony to believe it was the work of hacktivist group Anonymous, possibly in retaliation to the Geohotz case not only that but also messages and calling cards have been found within servers leading them to this assumption. Anonymous have denied these accusations but due to the groups decentralized organisation it is difficult to claim. Could it have been a tear away group of Anon’s out for revenge on Sony? Who knows?
What we do now is that Sony is working round the clock to get their service back online. On April 30th Kaz Hirai stated that parts of the PSN would be back within the week, this would include online play and account management. However that time frame has now passed and we are still left waiting.
Personally I feel bad for Sony. This situation could have happened to any company and it is unfortunate all of the flak that Sony is taking for it. Fanboys will be fanboys. Bear in mind also that Japan is still trying to recover from the horrendous tsunami incident this hack could not have come at a worse time.
Looking forward...
So what does this mean for Sony going forward?
Public thoughts of Sony are at an all time low so I would hope that this kick starts something at the headquarters. Once the service is brought back online I would like to see a reshuffle to make the PSN more user friendly. There is no denying that the Xbox Live service trounces the PSN in its ease of use. Also to gain back support I would expect Sony to announce something big at E3, possibly an exclusive that Sony has had hidden away just waiting for the right time to reveal.
Of course this is all speculation and all we can really do is sit on our hands and wait it out. I for one wish Sony all the best in getting things back up and running a restoring the brand to its former glory.
That’s your lot for this week folks. If you have anything to add to the discussion please don’t hesitate to post comments or message me.
See y’all next time.
