Feldon Bloomberg.com posted a story earlier this afternoon suggesting that SOE’s services were down due to a “second attack”:
Sony Online Entertainment, a unit that makes role-play games, suspended service after discovering a hacker gained access to its systems in the second such attack on the parent company’s entertainment networks.
However in speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Michele Sturdivant, a Sony Online Entertainment spokeswoman denied the claim.
Sony Corp. has shut down a second online videogame network amid an expanding investigation of a computer attack that may have compromised the personal information of millions of users.
Sony Online Entertainment, a San Diego-based subsidiary that makes multiplayer role-playing games mostly for personal computers, said it temporarily shut down services on Sunday evening amid concerns a hacker had possibly breached its security.
Two weeks ago, the company shut down its PlayStation Network, which lets gamers play against each other online, after it discovered a hacker had stolen names, birth dates and possibly credit-card numbers from Sony’s PlayStation Network.
Sony said the shutdown of Sony Online Entertainment, which hosts the popular “EverQuest” role-playing game, was prompted by an expansion of the initial investigation, not a separate attack.
“We temporarily took down SOE’s services as part of our continued investigation into the external intrusion that occurred in April,” said Michele Sturdivant, a Sony Online Entertainment spokeswoman. “This is not a second attack.”
Well that addresses what I was just observing. One reports a 2nd attack, the other reports no new attacks. Wonder who is lying?
Probably both, since SOE hasnt released any information about what is going on since they shut down their servers. They’re just media attentive whores trying to get attention.
They are playing with words. It isn’t a second attack. Our info was also taken in the first attack. They just announced this 20 minutes ago.
I just love being lied to, oh wait not lied to.. that’s right it wasn’t a second attack. That means we are all totally cool with it. BS.
It is much worse to sit back and cover the truth, then to come forward, and use a play on words to hide the fact peoples info was lost.
Shit happens, this I know. It’s not that they loss my info that ticks me off, it’s that they lied about it for so long.
Well anyway.. anyone who wants to read about it can just visit Station.com, it redirects you to soe.com and a page confessing what happened.
Lol. Spokesperson denies it.
SOE now comes out and says “yes, some information was taken.”
We are being lied to alright, because it *was* a second attack. They just announced it themselves (despite “announcing” it wasn’t a second attack previously):
“The company took SOE servers offline after learning of the attack last evening, and today detailed the unfortunate results: approximately 12,700 non-US credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes), and about 10,700 direct debit records of certain customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain were lost, apparently from an outdated database from 2007. Of the 12,700 total, 4,300 are alleged to be from Japan, while the remainder come from the aforementioned four European countries.”
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/05/02/sony-hit-with-second-attack-loses-12-700-credit-card-nu/
(editor’s note: full announcement/letter snipped)
If they take as long having SOE down as they have with PSN, they can probably kiss the franchise goodbye. After being loyal to Sony products for a decade, I must say, over the past few years, not only has the company’s quality and reliability gone down, its plummeting.