facebook rss twitter

PlayStation Network still offline while Sony rethinks security

by Steven Williamson on 5 May 2011, 09:16

Tags: Sony Computers Entertainment Europe (NYSE:SNE)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qa5so

Add to My Vault: x

Sony is putting in place a number of new secuirty measures following the hacking of the PlayStation Network on April 18. The service is still offline following a cyber-attack that compromised the personal details of over 70 million user accounts, but Sony says it won't reopen the network until it's entirely happy that it's secure.

In a statement on the official PlayStation Blog, Sony's U.S. Director of Corporate Communications Patrick Seybold confirmed some of the measures being taken:

"We are taking a number of steps to prevent future breaches," reads the statement. This will include "enhanced levels of data protection and encryption; enhanced ability to detect software intrusions, unauthorized access and unusual activity patterns; additional firewalls; establishment of a new data center in an undisclosed location with increased security; and the naming of a new Chief Information Security Officer."

Sony also confirmed that it had "been the victim of a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber attack." Hacktivist group "Anonymous" are said to be involved. As some form of compensation, Sony has promised users one month's free access to the subscription-based PlayStation Plus service, while U.S. users will receive complimentary identitfy theft protection.

Source: PlayStation Blog


HEXUS Forums :: 12 Comments

Login with Forum Account

Don't have an account? Register today!
I've seen it reported that Sony were warned that they had unpatched versions of Apache and their firewall was off. If that's the case, then they deserve all they got…
3dcandy
I've seen it reported that Sony were warned that they had unpatched versions of Apache and their firewall was off. If that's the case, then they deserve all they got…

I don't know why people keep saying this; whatever Sony goes through, the PSN userbase has to go through too. I hardly think they deserve it.
TheVoice
I don't know why people keep saying this; whatever Sony goes through, the PSN userbase has to go through too. I hardly think they deserve it.

The Voice has spoken. I agree, why do we deserve this candy?
If you ran a large corporation and blindly go about your business with no thought to security (especially users data) then would you think the same? Companies have a responsibility to safeguard your data, and by all accounts Sony have not even followed basic security. Do you still think the same, especially if your credit card is now ripped off? Leaving a web server unpatched and unsecured is just lazy, arrogant and disrespectful, especially when it has caused pain for over 100 million accounts. think about it, more than the population of the UK could possibly have been affected….
What, exactly, do you think a firewall will do to increase the security of Apache? It'll let internet connections through to port 80, anyway. Besides, the attack vector was the ‘developer mode’ of the application.