Topic: PSN = Privacy? Security? Never!

[broodwars]

Well, after what Brandogg posted about the employees being fired it casts some doubt on this being the work of hackers. Perhaps it was the result of disgruntled fired employees?

The problem with that theory is that if that were the case, the police would easily have motive and likely evidence of employee involvement (especially if these employees had access to the Sony networks from an external location like their homes).  The culprits would probably already be in jail.  I suppose it's possible that disgruntled employees could have leaked information that aided hackers in penetrating Sony's security, but once again we'd probably have heard something about that by now.  The internet doesn't tend to forget just about anything, so there would probably be a trail of some sort to follow from the employees.

[BranDonk Kong]

Whoever did the actual hack (or just walked in and downloaded data directly from the servers) - it is the result of bullshit security.

[gregmde7]

I'm not sure, but I will tell you one thing - it has been way too long that the PSN has been down now. I mean come on, it's been over 2 weeks now. With a company as large as Playstation is I just don't get how it can take you 2 weeks to get this issue fixed. Of course it is a really big issue as credit card information and other personal information is on the line - but can't you reopen the network while doing your other work?

it's getting very frustrating!

[broodwars]

I'm not sure, but I will tell you one thing - it has been way too long that the PSN has been down now. I mean come on, it's been over 2 weeks now. With a company as large as Playstation is I just don't get how it can take you 2 weeks to get this issue fixed. Of course it is a really big issue as credit card information and other personal information is on the line - but can't you reopen the network while doing your other work?

it's getting very frustrating!

Given that the heart of this very issue was the theft of account information, there's no way that Sony could restore access to the PSN while still working on PSN's infrastructure.  I'm more frustrated that after all this time of the PSN being down, when it does return the basic functionality is all we're going to get.  That pretty much means online play and trophies.  We won't be seeing the PSN Store for a while longer, which means that PS+; your download history; and anything Sony's giving us as part of their "make good" package won't be available till the Store's back up.

[Stogi]

If you've jailbroken your console (and now I see absolutely no reason you shouldn't), there are other networks you can access for online play. I've been playing Fifa online this past week.

And while I hope Sony doesn't go bankrupt over this (simply because I like competition), I really think they should be harshly punished and made publicly accountable by a US court system. And I hope they learn a lesson through all of this - Don't piss off hackers.

[broodwars]

And I hope they learn a lesson through all of this - Don't piss off hackers.

From my point of view, if stuff like this PSN "Outage" (as the media likes to call it) and Anonymous' actions are what the hackers do when a company has the audacity to try to protect their intellectual property, the hackers are out of control and need to be brought down.  Whoever broke into Sony's networks and stole all that information (not to mention those who create custom firmware for the specific purpose of pirating data, which is likely the only reason Sony even cares about the PS3 hack) did the hackers' case no favors, even if it was the actions of a few reflecting badly on an otherwise quiet majority.

[Stogi]

The way I see it is it all snowballed from Sony deciding to drop Linux. That enraged the hacker community. The "Virtuous" Hackers found the PS3's security laughable, by-passing it with ease in order to restore their beloved feature. "Evil" hackers caught wind of Sony's deplorable security and probably thought the same was true about PSN. And guess what? They were right.

Or it could be the virtuous trying to teach Sony a lesson and were never going to use or sell the information they found. Either way, a lesson is being taught.

And you say that hackers are "out of control and need to be brought down". Hackers are just people - people with the intelligence to not be forced into consumer troughs and infrastructures.

[Ceric]

Sony never should have took the Linux feature away.  Though they should of had a better system in place for PSN.

[Morari]

And I hope they learn a lesson through all of this - Don't piss off hackers.

From my point of view, if stuff like this PSN "Outage" (as the media likes to call it) and Anonymous' actions are what the hackers do when a company has the audacity to try to protect their intellectual property, the hackers are out of control and need to be brought down.  Whoever broke into Sony's networks and stole all that information (not to mention those who create custom firmware for the specific purpose of pirating data, which is likely the only reason Sony even cares about the PS3 hack) did the hackers' case no favors, even if it was the actions of a few reflecting badly on an otherwise quiet majority.

From my point of view, if stuff like "taking other OS away" is what Sony does when threatened by the prospect of competition, then they as a company are out of control and need to be brought down.

[Chozo Ghost]

Freedom>Sony

[broodwars]

Browsing a few of my usual sites, I ran across this interesting (and surprisingly candid) interview on Playstation Lifestyle with AVG (an internet security firm) Chief Research Officer Roger Thompson, regarding the PSN hack and internet security in general.  Check out Part 1 and Part 2.

[Morari]

Q: Looking back at the cloud and integrated systems – do you think Sony’s breach will slow people’s uptake of the cloud and damage the industry as a whole, or will people quickly forget?
 
A: I live in a country where every time there’s a thunderstorm the weather channel reminds people not to drive into water of an unknown depth so I suspect that people will forget pretty quickly.

 

[broodwars]

Well, May 3rd's come and gone, so Sony's missed the date they gave us last week for bringing the PSN back online.  I wonder if we'll even see the damn thing restored this week, or if we'll enter our 3rd week of no PS3 online functionality.  *sigh*

On the upside, I did take advantage of a GS sale and picked up Majin & the Forsaken Kingdom + 3 other games for $6 and store credit.  Majin's an excellent game (and extremely overlooked) and I highly recommend it if you're looking for something to tide you over till The Last Guardian/Zelda: Skyward Sword.

[Stogi]

Sony doesn't have the heart to tell you, so I will.

PSN is never coming back on. I'm sorry.

[Chozo Ghost]

On a related note, I noticed a few days ago that Amazon had a deal for a $50 credit with the purchase of certain Xbox 360s. You may have to pay for online, but at least it works. So I'm considering that.

[BlackNMild2k1]

On a related note, I noticed a few days ago that Amazon had a deal for a $50 credit with the purchase of certain Xbox 360s. You may have to pay for online, but at least it works. So I'm considering that.

Xbox360 - $50 credit & 1600 MS points - $199

[Stogi]

If it still requires you to run an ethernet cord to it, then it's no deal.

[Chozo Ghost]

If it still requires you to run an ethernet cord to it, then it's no deal.

According to Amazon:

Product Features

    Sleek New Design
    4GB internal memory
    Built-in Wi-Fi
    Whisper Quiet

It sucks that it lacks a hard drive, though. You can always add one in yourself, but only expensive MS approved HDDs will work. It might make more sense to buy the $299 model which already includes a hard drive and probably some other perks.

[broodwars]

Sony has posted a response on the Playstation Blog to the U.S. House of Representatives' inquiry into the PSN attacks.

I find this passage from the response interesting:

We discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of our Sony Online Entertainment servers named “Anonymous” with the words “We are Legion.”

So it looks like Anonymous, or at least someone who was a member of Anonymous acting alone, was quite possibly behind this attack after all.

[Chozo Ghost]

So it looks like Anonymous, or at least someone who was a member of Anonymous acting alone, was quite possibly behind this attack after all.

Or quite possibly that was what whoever planted that wants you to think. Framings are as old as crime itself.

ETA: I find this reassuring:

As of today, the major credit card companies have not reported any fraudulent transactions that they believe are the direct result of this cyber attack.

So to this day there is still no proof credit card information had been stolen or that this was even the objective of those who hacked PSN. This supports my earlier belief that the attack was simply targeted at Sony as revenge for the removal of Other OS and the suing of GeoHot. I didn't want to believe innocent consumers were the intended victim, and apparently there is still no proof that they were.

[broodwars]

So it looks like Anonymous, or at least someone who was a member of Anonymous acting alone, was quite possibly behind this attack after all.

Or quite possibly that was what whoever planted that wants you to think. Framings are as old as crime itself.

The problem is that Anonymous has been quite active in attacking Sony recently, from the DDoS attacks to the futile protests in Sony stores.  I remember when they stopped their DDoS attacks on PSN, they said that "big surprises" were to come in their battle with Sony.  Combined with this reveal, that's pretty incriminating.  Sure, I considered the possibility of someone framing Anonymous, but right now this warrants deeper investigation into the group.

[Chozo Ghost]

Assuming it was Anonymous, wouldn't that file which implicates them go against their previous public claim that they "didn't do it"? I'm not saying that they couldn't have done it, but I am saying that if they did do it I don't think they would want Sony and the FBI to believe they did for the simple reason that no one wants to go to jail.

[UncleBob]

Funny thing about Anonymous.  It could have been them and could have not been them at the same time.

[Ceric]

Honestly claiming they did it would make them a Terrorist organization.

[UncleBob]

Honestly claiming they did it would make them a Terrorist organization.

Who can claim that Anonymous did it though?  Can't pretty much anyone go in and edit their front page?  You, I, SUPER or Kevin Butler could go in and change their front page to say "Yeah, we hacked SONY.  Suck it, Coppers!"  It doesn't mean anyone (or everyone) associated with Anonymous actually did any hacking.