Feldon
From Consumerist.com: In congressional testimony this morning, Dr. Gene Spafford of Purdue University said that Sony was using outdated software on its servers — and knew about it months in advance of the recent security breaches that allowed hackers to get private information from over 100 million user accounts. According to Spafford, security experts monitoring open Internet forums learned months ago that Sony was using outdated versions of the Apache Web server software, which “was unpatched and had no firewall installed.” The issue was “reported in an open forum monitored by Sony employees” two to three months prior to...
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After initially going on the record stating that Anonymous, the evangelist hacker group, had no involvement in the actual hack of the PlayStation Network (and by extension the SOE network), Sony have now pointed the finger for a different reason. In a letter to congress, Sony has posited that the very disruptive flooding/attacks on Sony servers in retaliation for the George Hotz lawsuit was a sufficient distraction to leave a much larger window for hackers to enter Sony systems and leave undetected. Sony has suggested that had the coordinated denial-of-service attacks not happened, a compromise of their servers would...
Today, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing in Washington, DC on “The Threat of Data Theft to American Consumers.” Kazuo Hirai, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sony Computer Entertainment America, submitted written answers to questions posed by the subcommittee about the large-scale, criminal cyber-attack we have experienced. We wanted to share those answers with you. Complete 8 page written response (click here) on Flickr Summary on PlayStation Blog (click here) Note that much of this information is generic to the PSN (SCEA)...
SOE.com has been updated with a new Recent Updates section which answers a few questions, although there are few concrete answers at this point. Also, according to a Facebook update, the $10 discount on Fan Faire registration will be extended due to the service outage. May 4, 2011 We want to thank you again for your patience as we work to get the SOE services back up and running. We received several questions and comments relating to the criminal attack to our network and would like to address some of the most common questions today. We are also going...
From MSNBC.com: A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee is demanding answers from Sony after private information from some 102 million personal accounts was taken by hackers. In a letter written by the Congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade and addressed to Sony chairman Kazuo Hirai, representatives asked the company to answer a list of 13 questions related to the hacking of Sony’s PlayStation Network. The Congressional committee has demanded answers about the PlayStation Network breach only perhaps because news of the Sony Online Entertainment breach wasn’t released until Monday afternoon.
From SignOnSanDiego.com, the website of the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper. Customers of San Diego-based Sony Online Entertainment must watch out for “spear phishing” scams after a hacker may have gained access to personal information on 24.6 million accounts, including email addresses and passwords. Privacy experts say cyber criminals could have enough information to send highly customized emails or postal letters — or make phone calls — that will appear to come from Sony in hopes of tricking customers into revealing more sensitive information — such as credit card or Social Security numbers. Sony Online Entertainment urged its customers to...
From MSNBC.com: Sony has hired outside investigators to help clean its networks and catch the people behind a massive breach that exposed the personal data of more than 100 million video game users. The Japanese electronics giant has retained a team from privately held Data Forte that is led by a former special agent with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service to work alongside the FBI agents, who are also probing the matter. Sony said on Tuesday that it has also brought on cyber-security detectives from Guidance Software and consultants from Robert Half International Inc.’s subsidiary Protiviti to help...
From SOE Facebook: Hey folks, in response to many inquiries, we wanted to reassure you that all of your characters and items are safe and awaiting your return. We continue to work on the issues as fast as we can, but unfortunately the servers will not come up today. Thank you for your continued patience; we expect to be back up very soon.
Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Jethal Silverwing Show and EQ2’s Day podcasts are expected to run on-schedule tonight and should no doubt bring to bear some interesting discussion about the latest turn of events at SOE causing what could be a protracted downtime for EQ2 and related games. EQ2’s Day seems to be at 4pm-6pm Pacific (this could be clearer on the website), with Jethal’s show starting at 7pm. Last night’s Down Range already tackled the security compromises and you can listen to that podcast as well. These podcasts are hosted at OnlineGamingRadio. Also, although it was drowned out...
SOE’s Facebook Update as of 30 minutes ago is brief and to the point: We’re working as hard as we can to get the servers up as soon as possible, but have no ETA at this time.
SOE Customers have started to report receiving e-mails from unscrupulous individuals attempting to lure frustrated players to websites which look and feel like official SOE customer portals to try to acquire additional login credentials and credit card information. Please check the sender of these e-mails and further watch the addresses linked in any suspicious e-mail. When in doubt, go to http://www.SOE.com/ and disregard any links provided in outgoing e-mails. There is currently no “action” that players can take other than to wait-and-see how SOE and Sony addresss the current crisis. UPDATE: SOE’s website has been updated with the following...
With yesterday’s news of all SOE customer records (excluding all but a few credit card details) falling into the hands of hackers, there have been wild predictions of just how long it will take until things get sorted out and SOE games, websites, and forums come back online. The PlayStation Network, which powers online play and updates for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable (especially the PSP Go which has no game slot), has been offline now for 13 days and yesterday’s press release suggests that some features will be online this week but the entire PSN service won’t...
First, some comments from SOE President John Smedley: It’s been a rough day. We hope to be up soon, but we aren’t ready to announce just yet. It can’t get any worse than today! I’m sorry the service is down. I really am. Regarding if the forums will be down for tonight: Unfortunately yes. I wish they were because we can’t really communicate with our players right now in a good way except on Facebook. It’s frustrating. But the account system is linked to the forums. and when EQ2 ZAM contacted him: We shot off a quick e-mail to...
Ok not really, but folks, PLEASE be at least polite when calling SOE Customer Service. They didn’t setup the servers. They didn’t write the software or security protocols of the servers. They are not wearing shoulderpads or other protective armor. Their only line of defense is the press release you ALREADY read in your e-mail about this situation. So if you decide to ring up SOE to ask what’s going on, please realize they have a limited script to read from, and won’t be able to magically get the servers back up and running. If you want to express...
Today’s news that the SOE Customer Database has been stolen has continued to break around the Web from the BBC to Reuters to Nikkei news in Japan. We have news from: Nikkei.com ConsumerAffairs.com Reuters.com BetaNews.com CNet Wired.com PCWorld.com ZAM.com Yahoo Finance PC IGN
According to Frizznik on the EQ2 Forums (when answering a question about why certain tradeskill materials wouldn’t go into the Harvest Depot), indicated that GU60 is now locked and thus should be hitting Test soon. With a live date of May 17th, I wouldn’t want to take the odds on 3 raid zones, 3 dungeons, and all the other content of Game Update 60 being bug-free. It looks like the classifications on the Rough Pearl and Rough Nacre should work for recipes that require those ingredients so I flagged those so they can go into the depot. May have...
Dethdlr
For me, since DoV came out, the “hot zone” hasn’t seemed to be very “hot”. I’ve said this in a few threads and have seen others chime in with different theories on why they seem that way. There may be fixes to this coming our way in GU60. Details after the break.
Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announced the landmark 60th game update for the iconic massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), EverQuest®II (EQII) The Children of War. Scheduled to arrive to the world of Norrath on May 17, 2011, the update will continue the storyline introduced to players in the recently released EQII: Destiny of Velious expansion pack as part of the Age’s End Prophecy saga and deliver content for players of all types, including battlegrounds and PvP improvements. From April 14 to April 21, 2011, former players are also invited to log back in and experience the unparalleled...
Just a brief teaser from SmokeJumper: There’s no Double XP on Easter weekend. The next Double XP is likely to be in May sometime.
Bunji has attempted to clear up some of the confusion about EQ2 Launcher/Updaters: Seems like there is some confusion on the current patchers being offered. The two LP3 choices can be found here: http://launch.soe.com/eq2/ The “Full” version uses PAKs and behaves just like the original LP1 patcher (just has a different skin). The “Streaming” version doesn’t use PAKs (instead streams down needed content into an “assetcache” folder). Currently, if you run multiple clients on the streaming client it will create a second set of assets. What distinguishes them as LP3 patchers is the skin they use. LP1 = Original...
From SmokeJumper: I’m only going to speak about “EverQuest II” because that’s the project I’m authorized to speak about. We were impacted also today. We lost two people from the team that we’ll miss. I’m not going to mention who they are because I think privacy is important. However, we still have a large team on this project, in fact, one of the largest in the company. SOE fully supports not only EQII and EQ2X, but also EverQuest and EQ Next as well. The “EverQuest” franchise is the backbone of this company and we’ll do what it takes to...
As first reported by Kotaku.com: Sony Online Entertainment, makers of D.C. Universe Online and Free Realms, closed three studios and will lay off nearly a third of its workforce, Kotaku has learned. Word began spreading when George Broussard, best known as the co-creator of Duke Nukem Forever, tweeted earlier this evening that SOE was seeing layoffs and “studio closure is possible.” Kotaku has confirmed through a source familiar with the matter that the closures affect SOE’s studios in Seattle, Tucson, Ariz. and Denver. Half of the workforce at SOE offices in Austin, Texas were pink slipped along with a...
UPDATE: This event has been extended until April 1st. Edited from EverQuest2.com: From Friday, March 25th through Monday, March 28th Friday, April 1st, our players will be invited to purchase specially created Cherry Blossom items via the in-game marketplaces in their preferred games. These Cherry Blossom items can be displayed in player in-game homes, as a sign of ongoing support and to raise further awareness amongst our deep player communities. For every Cherry Blossom item purchased between March 25th and March 28th, SOE will donate $10 to the American Red Cross* in support of ongoing relief efforts.
The conclusion of the main Othmir quest line results in players receiving Nipik’s Cane. As this item is priest-only, several of us ended up transmuting it. As it turns out, it was supposed to be a house item. If you already transmuted or sold yours, good news from Kaitheel: I’ve made this change and submitted it to internal testing. In a future update you should see the following change listed in the Update Notes: Nipik’s Cane can now be bought from Shady Swashbuckler in Nektulos Forest, by players who have completed the quest “A New Calling”. Nipik’s Cane is...
From SmokeJumper on the EQ2 Forums: Hey, folks, I just wanted to post and let you know that a bunch of accounts (less than 100) got a temporary suspension tonight. Why? Because some of them were invited to Beta and then found a way to shortcut the gryphon quest series, which takes a minimum of five days to complete, and were able to do it in minutes. They then told others how to do it and the rest followed along, duplicating the exploit.