SOE Currently Has 'No ETA' on Game Services

SOE downtime continues as they work to secure information.

UPDATE, May 4: SOE has answered some common questions about the attack.

As we previously reported, all Sony Online Entertainment services, games, forums and web sites went offline this morning as a result of the recent Playstation Network intrusion. SOE issued an announcement which revealed that personal information had been compromised.  Players were, for the most part, relieved that credit card information was safe, but wanted to know when they could play their games.  The press release only said, "Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible."

We shot off a quick e-mail to John "Smed" Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, asking if the servers would be back up tonight, May 2.  He quickly replied with, "They won't be up tonight unfortunately." 

SOE is granting customers 30 days of additional time on their subscriptions, in addition to compensating them one day for each day the system is down.

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Just saw a video about this on MSNBC..
# May 03 2011 at 8:59 PM Rating: Decent
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And it said the networks won't be up until a week or more... so yea Maybe Monday or longer ... wow...
hopefully
# May 03 2011 at 8:47 PM Rating: Decent
my moneys on friday the servers come up :)
being optimistic tho
Great Opportunity to upgrade yeah!
# May 03 2011 at 8:43 PM Rating: Decent
Instead of building an eq3 or more extended servers they need to keep the people they got. While this thing will probably be down for a few weeks up to a month they should really look into restructuring the graphic engine and add in displacement map tessellation, upgrade the xml files system, Add Diversity to the Gear already in the game. I could think of a million things they could do.

You would think that those hackers would have something better to do like build a game that people would actually appreciate them for.
the right strat
# May 03 2011 at 8:27 PM Rating: Decent
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344 posts
Smart players will take this time to rack up some wife faction.
the right strat
# May 04 2011 at 3:34 PM Rating: Decent
Hah! Brilliant.
changing passw?
# May 03 2011 at 8:27 PM Rating: Decent
25 posts
How do i go about changing my passw. to my accounts? Is it possible now or do I have to wait till Sony is finished fixing everything? I haven't even tried to access sonys gaming site.
update
# May 03 2011 at 8:23 PM Rating: Decent
well at least its something
Update
# May 03 2011 at 8:21 PM Rating: Decent
Well at least its an update
lfg
# May 03 2011 at 7:44 PM Rating: Decent
28 posts
lvl 90 shammy lfg :(

*rez to Sony*

lfg
# May 03 2011 at 8:23 PM Rating: Decent
Thats only a 90% rez!
lfg
# May 03 2011 at 9:03 PM Rating: Decent
28 posts
Fine! Fine! I'll take the hit for all of you! Popping my expedient recovery for Sony! ;)
Verant
# May 03 2011 at 7:43 PM Rating: Decent
Verant ..Anyone remember that company? Crash if more than 50 peeps in the zone. Sony moved the game to the next level. Its to bad they had a bit of a f ... up on the way. We all learn from achievments and failures.
Verant
# May 03 2011 at 8:25 PM Rating: Decent
actually verant was sony
Verant
# May 03 2011 at 8:24 PM Rating: Decent
actually verant was sony.
Crime Scene
# May 03 2011 at 5:56 PM Rating: Decent
With the FBI involved and servers as evidence one would expect a minimal 10 Days before Sony is allowed to put them back on-line. Time to spring clean.
Crime Scene
# May 03 2011 at 6:54 PM Rating: Decent
And once hackers' locations are found, we shoud send SEAL Team 6. ANON scumbags went too far. To me, they are almost bad as Al Queda, phucking cyber terrorists. I am sure chinese EQ factories are pissed off as well. Maybe those infamous chinese hacker army go after ANON.
Crime Scene
# May 03 2011 at 6:54 PM Rating: Decent
10 days? That would be a disaster (if you'll pardon the pun.)

Would be nice to have some information though on what's going on and what the ETA is.
Cold Turkey anyone?
# May 03 2011 at 5:56 PM Rating: Decent
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I for one remember the baseball strike a few years back

Prior to it, I'd either listen to or watch when I could and if lucky attend a ball game here and there.

After the strike resumed, I dont think ive watched a single inning or listend to one, I attend minor league now when I can w my kids but my "addiction" to baseball was cured by their imposed cold turkey

I see the threads of potential law suits, and wtf congressional inquiries?, as well as probable leaks of personal information, that could cause months of headaches to some....

Some of us have been custmoers of this or that game now owned and operated by Sony, for years (decade plus)

For those of us that had played WAAAAAAAAAAAY too much maybe this is your chance to go get some sun and enjoy this spring and summer thats around the corner (dont meant to kick a dog while its down) but saving a few bucks wont be bad for a lot of us.
Cold Turkey anyone?
# May 03 2011 at 8:21 PM Rating: Decent
The baseball strike did the same thing to me... it took my local MLB team going to the World Series last year to finally catch my interest again. The server populations are certain to take a hard population hit after this one. I'm afraid to start another MMO while we wait for this mess to blow over because I know that if I do, it will be a long time before I come back to Everquest, if at all.
Cold Turkey anyone?
# May 03 2011 at 6:15 PM Rating: Decent
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509 posts
Agreed.
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No EQ again
# May 03 2011 at 5:43 PM Rating: Decent
You don't realize how much you miss EQ until it's not available. This totally sucks! No raiding this week =(
Hello
# May 03 2011 at 5:33 PM Rating: Decent
Hello, Sony, Kazam it's now day 2 how about an update for those of us who are running out of gin.
Hello
# May 03 2011 at 5:40 PM Rating: Decent
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309 posts
The Times article said Sony wouldn't even be ready to go to Congress to answer questions about this on Wednesday. With that in mind... what do YOU think the odds are this game is going online anytime in the next few days?
im an optomist but this looks bad...
# May 03 2011 at 5:29 PM Rating: Good
http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/03/6577819-sony-declines-to-testify-before-congress-as-1-billion-lawsuit-filed

Uh-ohhhhhh
im an optomist but this looks bad...
# May 03 2011 at 5:28 PM Rating: Decent
http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/03/6577819-sony-declines-to-testify-before-congress-as-1-billion-lawsuit-filed

Uh-ohhhhhh
Odd thought
# May 03 2011 at 4:44 PM Rating: Decent
How long ago were the hacks started? How long ago were the layoffs begun? Perhaps these are related. I would imagine that there are some interesting questions being asked of all those that were laid off in Colorado and elsewhere.

Deerrunner
....
# May 03 2011 at 4:28 PM Rating: Decent
Down, sucks i have Eq and Ps3 not a whole lot to pass time cept work on trophies..... at least i didn't buy the new COD map packs yet or i'd be fuming!
ROFL
# May 03 2011 at 4:16 PM Rating: Decent
May have my info, but good luck getting anything with it... my credit sucks
Freeze your accounts
# May 03 2011 at 4:01 PM Rating: Decent
Why don't you just put a freeze on your credit reports, this way noone can open any new acct's. Change your passwords and put notifications on your bank accounts. If you really want to you can declare your card stolen and get a new one. Why make more out of it than it is. The solution to protecting yourself doesn't take that long to do and you can't play the game right now so you have the time to make the necessary changes. If you don't want to make the changes then it's your fault if you get ripped off. You really should have the freeze on your credit reports anyway to protect yourself so do it now and be safe. Yes it costs to put the freeze on but why not be safe rather than sorry. I've already frozen my credit reports and put bank notifications on my accounts and changed my passwords. Didn't take very long to do and I feel safer by doing so. So feel safe and quit whinning about not being able to play. Yes I want to play too but what has happened is done and yes Sony did the right thing to prevent any further breach.
Freeze your accounts
# May 03 2011 at 4:57 PM Rating: Decent
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Article from MSN Money on freezing your credit reports, what it costs, what the laws may be in your state (they vary state to state), when you should considering freezing them, what identity info someone needs to be able to get credit, the difference between a credit freeze and a credit fraud alert flag, and so on.
Updates
# May 03 2011 at 3:43 PM Rating: Decent
Great time to start working on your customer relations. Keep us updated. Doesnt have to be every 10 minutes, but a few times a day would be great!
Progression Servers
# May 03 2011 at 3:34 PM Rating: Decent
I sure hope this doesn't push back the timeline for the long awaited Kunark vote on Fippy. Heh.

Looks like it's going to be a wait. The perfect time to start up a marathon speed Civ4 game while the weather is crappy out.
Wommp wooomp
# May 03 2011 at 3:26 PM Rating: Decent
Guess no EQ again today =(
Oh well
# May 03 2011 at 3:14 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
33 posts
Got my SOE e-mail that my accounts were some of the ones the info was hacked into. Just went ahead and joined a identy theft company, being I'm not using my parents credit card but my own. And to be protected on my own is a good idea anyway...should have done this before this happened...only makes sense these days. I won't bicker and whine and say what SoE "owes" me, I'll just wait...and for those who gripe about being billed...If you finance a car and it breaks down, you still have to make the payment while it's getting fixed...maybe you will understand it more in that context. If some of you are so hell bent on quitting, you don't have to be logged on to cancel, just call the credit card company and put a stop payment to SoE Commerce. Now just hush, go outside, and get some sun!!
Sony: PC Game Network Was Also Hacked
# May 03 2011 at 3:04 PM Rating: Decent
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(CNN) -- Sony said the Internet security breach targeting its networks was more extensive than originally thought.

Hackers also gained access to databases containing subscriber information for Sony Online Entertainment, a San Diego subsidiary that makes online multiplayer games for computers and the PlayStation 3. The Sony division took its Web services offline Monday.

That shutdown came 12 days after Sony Computer Entertainment disconnected the PlayStation console game network and Sony Network Entertainment shut down Qriocity media streaming services. Sony said last week that it expected to start restoring some services this week, but they remain offline.

Sony disclosed the first breach on April 22, and then on April 27, the company announced that personal info and perhaps credit card numbers had been stolen for as many as 77 million accounts.

With the PC game network also compromised, Sony adds 24.6 million accounts to the pot. Some popular games maintained by Sony's online division include "EverQuest," "DC Universe Online" and "Free Realms."

This additional network was targeted on April 16 and April 17, the same days the other networks were hacked. While the infrastructures are separate, "There's a degree of architecture that overlaps" among Sony's many networks, said Michele Sturdivant, a spokeswoman for Sony Online Entertainment.

"Initially, we believed that data was not stolen," she said, but then the company uncovered evidence to the contrary during its ongoing investigation. "They used very sophisticated means to access the data, and they used sophisticated means to cover their tracks."

The information hackers took from Sony Online Entertainment's system included users' names, home addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, login names, encrypted passwords, birth dates and genders. Unlike the last breach, hackers didn't get the answers to security questions or have access to most people's financial information.

However, information from an additional 12,700 users stored on a database that was retired in 2007 was also compromised, Sony said. The data there included credit and debit-card numbers and expiration dates, but not security codes, for non-United States residents, as well as direct-debit banking records for some customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain.

Sony apologized for the security lapse and outages on Sunday. The company plans to offer PlayStation account holders a 30-day voucher for the PlayStation Plus service, which lets gamers download free and exclusive games. Current Plus subscribers will get an extra 30 days added to their accounts.

Similarly, Sony Online Entertainment will add 30 days to customers' accounts, along with additional play time for each day the service is down. The company also says it is in the process of outlining how it will recompense gamers who own its PlayStation 3 games. Additionally, Sony will offer complimentary assistance for customers who want to enroll in identity theft protection programs.

Sony says it's working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to make sense of the security breach. On Monday, PlayStation spokesman Patrick Seybold denied a report that said the hacker group offered to sell Sony a list of credit card numbers stolen from its systems.
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