Ben-DutkaAfter the infamous PlayStation Network hack back in 2011, I wondered how long Sony would have to carry this particular stinky monkey on its back.
Quite some time, as it turns out.
Even though we're over three and a half years beyond that incident, which obviously cost Sony the trust of millions, even the slightest hiccup instantly brings up references to 2011. The Network was down for a few days over the Christmas holiday and despite Xbox Live suffering from similar problems, it was the PSN issues that got by far the most attention. And I think we all know why.
Sony says service has been restored but most people remain bitter. One could argue that it's the fault of gamers for having priorities so far out of whack that it's embarrassing. Some of the comments at the blog: "3 days without PSN that's absurd," "ROFL 'our engineers are working to restore service as quickly as possible'…you suck Sony," and "headline should read 'in a stunning turn of events, PSN is down due to security issues.' Do I need to change my credit card # again?"
In this world, there are some who consider Internet access the same as breathable air, so maybe these comments aren't surprising. Many are calling for Sony to compensate them in some way, with a free game or a free month of PlayStation Plus. Should they get it? I don't know but I do know that Sony's past continues to haunt them. All you really need to do is toss up a headline about not being able to log into the PSN (whether it's even true or not) and you can incite a firestorm of pissed-off comments.
This is something that isn't going away any time soon.
Everyone is pointing their fingers at the victim while allowing the culprits to achieve their victory.
And that is exactly the problem with todays world. I am by no means excusing Sony's lack of near perfect protection here, but come on! These hackers committed a crime if I understand the law correctly.
It's all about accountability!!
Damn straight.
Would you rather have the culprit receive more recognition? Which is exactly the reason why they claim they did it.
maybe thats because the victim is letting themselves be the victim.
you can't break into a lion enclosure then scream bloody murder when the lion tears you to pieces!
next will have people suing toaster manufactures because when the idiot shoved a fork into the toaster to retrieve his toast he got electrocuted!
if you deliberately put yourself in harms way then you deserve whats coming to you!
Last edited by ___________ on 12/30/2014 5:21:41 AM
Down for 3 days and people want a month of PS+ or free game, hmmmmm ok.
3 days equates to all of approximately £0.54, talk about hard done by.
At best Sony could add 3 days to everyones subscription should they feel the need, personally I don't think they should.
If they give away anything it means these "hackers" have won.
Sony got the most attention because MS brought live back online HOURS after it went down while Sony took DAYS to do the same.
It's embarrasing really. It Just showed Sony's incompetence.
How can you say something so ignorant?
Do you know the severity between the attack on MS and Sony? Are you a software engineer, and are you able to to fix a DDOS attack within 24 hours?
BTW both of my friends who use XBL weren't able to play online until late Saturday evening, you know when PSN went back up.
Yeah, XBL wasn't down as long as PSN but it was definitely more than a day. Either way, I had undertaken yet another adventure on The Great Sea and I was sending and receiving message bottles like crazy, with no interruptions, so I was fine.
or it could mean XBL members are more mature than all of us whiny Sony babies
=)
Wind Waker Kid?
Temji, I haven't looked at the reactions to the Live outage but ohmy, these playstation users on twitter are ridiculous. Not all of course but
far too many are acting like this is the end of the world.
First world problems. :/
Last edited by Jawknee on 12/29/2014 4:24:53 PM
Yes, sir. Third time through HD and I know I've gone through the Cube version at least once a year since its release. Love the sense of freedom. Only a few games i've played have ever struck that chord with me. Shadow of the Colossus. Red Dead Redemption. Assassin's Creed Black Flag. Funny thing is the AC4 devs say they were influenced by Wind Waker. Now, we both know they must be lying because Nintendo hasnt innovated or influenced any game in 15 years. lol. Right..
Exactly! Haha
Damaged PSN rep will help ms in sales. Can Sony take their throne back?
The darn thing is still down for me. Hopefully it'll come up soon.
Try setting up a custom network connection and change your MTU to 1475. Leave everything else default. It worked for me.
Last edited by Jawknee on 12/29/2014 3:57:24 PM
Yep I noticed that even though it was a broad attack, Sony was the focus. Reason being, less we forget, the Sony Pictures hacking.
What bothered me the most was the media used the term "hack", regardless when some field experts kept telling them it was not a hack in to the system.
The whining gamers wanting free games for "compensation". If you take public transit, complain about the delays and start asking for free transit for a month. Complain to the airlines for the flight delay because of a bomb threat, you want a refund and free flights for a month. Complain to Best Buy for selling out of PS4's because their system said it was in stock and it was wrong. You want a free PS4 and free games.. .for a month. Okay a but much on the last one but please. Since when do people have such selfish and self-righteous and a feeling of entitlement to demand anything for free because… you were slightly inconvenienced.
The way Sony and MS were attacked can be done easily and to anyone or company using the net. All you can do is either have massive servers that cover a city area or shut it down.
I spent the holidays with family and just today just started to get back on the PS3.
Keep playing, better yet meet up with friends and family if you can't.
Neither had anything to do with one another. In fact many cyber experts are starting to claim the Sony Pictures hack was actually done by an ex disgruntled employee.
MS was being taken down off and on a week before Sony, and PSN went down on christmas eve. I was in a lobby on gtav fpsmode with some friends when BAM, i was kicked offline. MS was attacked before Sony and they even had 1000+ passwords and credit cards leaked from amazon prime, netflix and just basic accounts.
Sometimes I wonder how the facts fly right over some of your guyses heads. Not to mention MS should be better at avoiding something like this in the first place, they build software. The fact that a DDoS and a hack could take place (and does often) is beyond understanding.
yeah M$ is gunna be in the hotseat moreso than sony cos their area
My sympathies lie with MS and Sony because this did massive damage to their business'. But do any of you internet savi posters know if there is anything that can be done to stop these attacks in the future? If the answer is yes one would have to wonder why they didn't implement these safeguards.
Also, Google around. It looks like the identities of these twerps who vandalized the networks has been discovered. Let's hope the authorities come down hard on these clowns. In a just world federal charges would be sought and their respective counties would extradite these losers so they can spend some time in federal prison.
Last edited by Jawknee on 12/29/2014 3:52:40 PM
It's nice to see a reasonable and mature response to this, prison is exactly what these people deserve. I hate when people toss around things like death and rape so flippantly as punishment for the hackers, it's such an immature and offensive response and I'm always happy when I'm reminded that there are mature gamers out there.
Yes, you can protect against it, but there's nothing that can stop it. The short story is that each type of ddos attack differs. In this case, it was a Layer7 attack.
Here's a great article to explain why this is so effective, yet difficult to stop:
http://ddosattackprotection.org/blog/layer-7-ddos-attack/
Now, your question about why aren't MS and Sony haven't implemented safeguards. Simple answer? They have. Nothing is effective against human-mimicing attacks. You get false positives and randomly drop legitimate users. This is especially true during an attack when software analyzers get bombarded. The software tries to stay ahead of the attack by predicting the patterns. What you get is an unsteady connection that's almost as useless as one that has been knocked offline.
they need better blocking softare or redirecting nodes on their incoming network switches(like relays switches but for internet ethernet network banks at ISP's) and i think some more servers quite a few more would also be
Also services are only mostly restored. I tried again this morning to sign in with default network settings. Still not allowing people to sign in unless you change the MTU to 1475. I'm now getting an warning that my router doesn't may not support IP fragments. Didn't get this until I changed the MTU. I was also forced to re verify my email and it took 24 hours to receive the link from Sony.
Last edited by Jawknee on 12/29/2014 4:26:24 PM
Sounds like you had it rough man. People become so accustomed to a certain level of leisure & will do anything to keep it. I feel sorry for the people who depend on being connected like it was an IV drip. The Matrix will come to fruition one day if this keeps up.
Meh. No big deal. No online games to play at the moment plus Netflix still worked and I play my Wii U most these days. Sucks more for those new PS4 owners.
Dualshockers is reporting as of just an hour ago that the problems have spiked heavy again.
Thankfully because my gaming life doesn't revolve around online I'm not bothered.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 12/29/2014 7:32:56 PM
Yea, saw that on IGN. They also had a link to the offices Sony webpage suggesting to change to MTU value.
This incident actually does a lot more damage than people think, it shatters consumers' confidence in Sony and makes another 2011 attack seem quite possible which is really going to hurt Sony now that PSN is a paid subscription as it's hard to sell someone on a service they don't trust.
Why must people always go and ruin other's fun?
If the reports are correct about who these creeps are one of them is a repeat offender and he's only 16. He was arrested for this crap before and they found over 3,000 stolen credit cards in his possession. Why he's not in prison is beyond me. He's from Finland. Not sure what their penalties are for this kind of crime. This shouldn't be tolerated. This is akin to massive vandalism. He and the rest of his cohorts should be held responsible for the millions in damages this caused to Sony and MS's business.
It doesn't help when the groups attacking the services are publicly releasing our information. That's not activism. "Hacktivists" or whatever they wanna lie to themselves calling this crap.
You know what they're proving? If some prick wants to kick your door down, they can. Just like your house. Break in and steal stuff. The difference is that these spineless asshats are doing it at the comfort of their computer and telling all their steeple it's for a good cause.
It's not. You're an idiot.
The BEST part is statements are flying around via Twitter about Microsoft letting THEM help with their security. Is this some twisted idea of a cyber resume? My credit card number and user password aren't your portfolio, asshole. That's MY PRIVACY.
Now, how much can we blame Sony for these attacks? Not very much at all,imo. Denial of service attacks are unstoppable. Botnets are a Dime a dozen. Currently, there's nothing that can be done about those. The theft info information, however, can and should be avoided. This stuff. That actually requires a hacker to go large scale and the assaults ranged from practically every corner of the Internet.
This is the important lesson, folks. Blame whoever you want, but know this. You WILL lose your freedoms on the Internet if this keeps up. The clowns praising their crafty skills will ultimately cage us all in the end. Pay for online usage. Tracking like you can't imagine. Bandwidth limitations to prohibit large ddos attacks (in attempt to ease loads, more servers CAN prevent an attack from crippling a network… If the file size limitation is equivalent to a server load capping off 70%).
Id rather go back to the days before the Internet existed than to imagine a world where no one is trusted yet everyone relies on this nonsense.
It's disheartening to say the least. All this bullshit for the "Lulz". Lizards, lovers with masks. They all have one thing in common. Telling me how I spend my money is WRONG. Have they not figured out that it's purely optional for them to like something? "hacking" and hiding does nothing but give citizens a black eye. If you're so proud of what you've done, then make yourself known. The world's toughest keyboard won't keep you alive.
At that point don't you ask yourself what could be possibly "good" about your fight if no one else appreciates it? Naw, far too stupid and wreckless to put that much thought into it.
This is because what happened back in 2011 was a pretty delicate issue, you know, important information and stuff. So yeah, I'm not the least bit surprised that gamers are acting in such a immature matter. I for one kind of felt entitled as I'm required to pay for Plus and found out Xbox live was back online. As for the question, no, I do not believe anyone should get anything other than have those "lost" days added to our plus subscription. It shouldn't be too hard.
of course they haven't, how can you forget having your personal and financial information placed at risk and also being able to get online at all for so long!
companies need to start taking security a heck of allot more seriously, and we need to implement new laws to match and adapt to our cyber connected generation.
recent sony pictures hacks for instance, FBI keeps forcing it on NK, and keeps flapping their mouth about consequences, but its been weeks since they announced it was them and whats been done?
what, the recent mysterious internet dropout for NK?
is that it?
a government took down one of the biggest companies in the world, caused them to loose thousands of documents and personal files, and this is how we react?
seriously?
and these lizzardsquad pricks, taken down how many companies?
cost how many millions of dollars in damages?
and have been doing so for how many years now?
seriously, go 5KMs over the f*cking speed limit and you get a 400 dollar fine and 4 demerit points.
take down multiple billion dollar companies, cause hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage, and you don't even get a slap on the wrist.
what the &^%$!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
this f*cked up society truly does have its priorities all in a bunch!!!!!!!
some people never get over things nd gamers probably have the best memories especially for the bad stuff thats why all the companies in this business try had to not to get on our bad side but that has been a fail this year to say the least for alot of the big players some more so than others.
but sony man you guys need to set up a better no wait a way better fire wall or something and maybe like a million extra servers cos this psn going down once a week has got to stop i haven't been using it alot lately cos i just finished uni and i've been catching up on other things but when i want to use it i expect it to be there after all we are paying for plus to make sure that that doesn't happen get ur servers and security act together sony this is for ur sake and ours, rant over
happy gaming