No Sony PSN service anytime soon, says latest update

Sony’s posts another update saying it won’t be able to restore PSN within the week it had hoped

Sony is reneging on a promise to reboot its PlayStation Network and start bringing its 77 million customers back online anytime soon. Sony posted an update to its PlayStation blog Friday stating it was "unaware of the extent of the (network) attack" adding it needs to "conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system" before it can restart its network.

This latest statement contradicts a comment made just the previous day by Sony CEO and Chairman Howard Stringer who said "in the coming days, we will restore service to the networks." Sony had also teased eager PSN gamers dropping hints that the PSN service would soon be restored, stating it had begun "the final stages of internal testing of the new system."

The delay may have something to do with fresh threats of a weekend network attack made earlier this week. Word of an impending attack came from CNET. According the report Sony faced another round of attacks this weekend in retaliation for what many consider its poor handling of the initial PSN attack. Chief among the hacker's beef with Sony, it's assumed, is the company's failure to inform Qriocity users in a timely manner that their financial information had been stolen by hackers until ten days after the breach.

User Outrage Over Chronic Delays

Friday's announcement is sure to rile gamers who have expressed a mix of emotions about the attack that range from anger to outrage.

Feedback from subscribers regarding the latest revelation is overwhelmingly negative and there's clearly a feeling of desperation. "Imagine my complete and utter shock," writes a user with the handle yazter, in a sarcastic response to the latest update. Elsewhere user cqc555 points out that, while Sony talks of its network being an "incredibly complex system", it clearly is "not too complex for hackers to breech".

The new update also hints that the attack against the SOE servers is more severe than Sony initially suggested, when it claimed an "outdated database from 2007" was accessed. The hold-up might also be related to rumors that yet another hack attack has been perpetrated, possibly against the main Sony.com website.

The PSN and SOE hacks amount to perhaps the biggest data breach in history, with over 100 million user accounts being accessed, and Sony has been hauled before the House of Representatives to answer questions. If nothing else, the attack proves the old hacker adage that the larger they are, the harder they fall.

Suggestions from Sony that online activist group Anonymous is involved were again quashed by the organization on Thursday via its AnonOps blog. Anonymous points out that it has never had an interest in stealing credit card details and even go so far as to suggest it has been framed by "a group of standard online thieves". However, two individuals claiming to be veteran Anonymous members told the Financial Times that members of the group may well have been behind the attacks.

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More about: CNET, etwork, ION, Sony, Technology
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Comments

ADC

1

I myself think that they are becoming more and more of a disappointment to their PSN members on a daily basis. Myself being a PSN member is seriously thinking of selling both systems due to this outage and the time frame it seems to be taking to fix the issue. Why give multiple time frames if you were unsure from the beginning that you were able to meet them. I do enjoy my online gaming but as I said the longer it takes the more I get discouraged and frustrated with the situation. There have been several time frames set in which NONE seem to be getting meant. My suggestion to SONY would be to bring up PSN ASAP!!! before they lose more members than they already have due to the outage and etc...

Neptune

2

Clearly its time to switch. Sony keeps back tracking an that sucks. Sony is shady the thruth is only told too us when there nuts are tied .

SONYUSUCK

3

Though I miss the gaming, I really hope they get hacked AGAIN for continuing to give false hopes and lies to all its users...
What a disgrace that a MAJOR technology company gets hacked so bad it requires a complete rebuild of the whole infrastructure.

Who ever hacked him, I think it is safe to say, take 'em out for good. Who needs a bunch of liars.

Plus, sony steals more money, is more corrupt, leaks more info then any hacker ever could.....

Dont get me wrong, I cant stand the hackers, but right now the hackers should take them out completely.

We can all switch to XBOX!+

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