CNET: Sony may have headed off planned weekend attack

A group of hackers that planned an attack against Sony's servers this weekend was unable to execute its plan. publication of the group's plan may have caused Sony to secure the remaining servers this group claims it had access to, shutting off any avenues for another attack.

[movements]

There was no planned attack. Just propaganda on CNET's part:

http://www.gamesthirst.com/...

Also, the reports claiming PSN won't be up till the end of the month are also false. Sony already said the FIRST PHASE will see PSN online, then other services later in the month....PSN could be up today!

[chriski333]

Can we please just have our PSN back on please! !!

[rockleex]

@DA_SHREDDER

Although Microsoft is infamous for their shady business tactics, they definitely would not risk being held liable for the breach of one of their main competitors.

[RedDragan]

Why is it so difficult to track people through IRC?

And shouldn't gaming websites be held as "Accomplice to Crime" if they fail to immediately report the IRC to the FBI for investigation and actually give the enforcement a chance to track them as they use it?

[pixelsword]

Red, it's a little dangerous to hold sites that responsible for other people's actions. Not only would that require constant oversight and monitoring, but in time (as the way of some things go) people who are upset and merely venting could wind-up being arrested for something that they were never actually planning to execute (the net is full of people who talk big and may or may not have the knowledge/skills to carry out what they propose).

That is called a "thought crime".

I would not like to sow the seeds of such a thing like that to the wind, if you follow me.

I would like to see the PSN up as much as the next guy (currently having MAG withdraw myself), but I prefer at most that if someone sees it that they would be a Good Samaritan and a good netizen and at least give Sony a detailed e-mail warning. If Sony themselves brushes you off then it's their fault if the act actually happens; if they don't, then let the law enforcement handle it AFTER a crime has been committed.

[Sarick]

To bad Sony japan announced when PSN should really as well. This is what people are starting expect on the internets these days. There are a lot of rumors and propaganda flying around. It's apparent even reputable are sources relaying them for hits.

Yea look at this link May 31st? (warning not work suitable)

http://www.sankakucomplex.c...

Today you don't know who to trust.

[DaTruth]

The element of surprise is an advantage no adversary should throw away!

[Ice]

In other news, I just download patch 1.03 for Mass Effect 2 on the PSN when booting up the game and it downloaded the whole thing try for yourself. Hopefully this is a sign it will be up soon. (I had not downloaded the patch before as I got the game while the network was down)

[Soldierone]

Patches work for all games. As far as I know its game already with patches. They download from the game companies servers, they just need to trigger when the game tries to access the internet.

Only thing I am unsure of is if new patches will work. Since BRINK supposedly needs a major one.

[Redempteur]

@Ice
Patches for games are on séparate servers out of the PSN and work even when the PSN is under maintenance. patches never stopped to work.

@Soldierone
Patches for PSN aren't on the game companies servers , they are on the sony servers .
as for mass effect 2 , they aren't any news patches IN teh game from the regular version on 360 it has teh same bug , biowaredidnot fix and new ones thank to the new graphical engine .( these bugs were fixed in the update )

[Legion]

Are you sure it wasn't aliens? The likely scenario is that Aliens are preparing for a big attack and this is a way to get our younger population into an agitated confused state prior to the big attack... who knows more how defend the earth then gamers?

Either that or Obama had something to do with this... I am sure that this is all just a government ploy to keep the attention away from the fake killing of Usama (note the FOX news spelling).

And surely this hack allowed Obama a chance to sneak in his own team into the Hawaiian data bases and create a fake Birth certificate for the masses to see.

That and SOny is a Japanese company and our government is just trying to keep non-US companies from getting a firm hold in the US of A.

But the most likely scenario is that Hollywood is complisent in the whole hack attack. Seeing all the revenue being taken away from the movie industry and boosting gaming revenue over theater revenue has made the Screen (Film) Actors Guild worry about their future and what might possibly lead them to an Anonymous face behind their voice in a gamers future versus being seen on the big screen. Ultimately this whole thing is more then likely the fault of The White Shadow. Always the White Man keeping the Japanese man down!

<Insert your conspiracy theory here>

[Calm Down Sunshine]

It's all so clear now.

[kaveti6616]

The retards above have resorted to once again blaming Microsoft for everything.

"I just dropped a glass in my kitchen. Hey, maybe Microsoft was responsible."

"There's gum under my shoe. I bet Microsoft planted it there. I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft is responsible for all the problems in the world."

[testerg35]

LOL.. you guys are funny.

[Phoenix76]

LOL 'it was MS who where behind it' lol. That would be highly unlikely and quite conter-productive really. think about what u say before u post and make urselfs look like 1st class twats!!!!
MS has nothing to do with it for the most obvious and simplest reasons..... they need game's for their console and the makers of games need as many copys sold as possible otherwise they go bust and then u and everyone else watches the slow painful dimise of all game consoles as a whole.
Welcome to the wonderful world of business logistics!!

[Louis_Guzman]

Cool story, bro.

[skrug]

It would mean that more people will have to buy 360 if they want to game, if PS went under. Or another company can come in (apple?)
so your point is moot.

[ConstipatedGorilla]

I highly doubt a company as big as Microsoft is willing to commit federal crime just to take a little business away from Sony. Pure nonsense.

[Soldierone]

Oh god...iStation with yearly releases...the industry would be ruined.

[skrug]

I would hate to see that. lol

[Treyb3yond]

Words can't describe how much I hate hackers.

[mcstorm]

So from what has been said here today Apple are behind virus stacks on windows os or Nokia were behind the virus attacks on wimo a few years ago or MySpace is hacking Facebook. Come on people wake up just because MS and Sony are going head to head in the console market dose not mean they don't work together on other products. For example Sony make windows pc's. This was done by a group of people who are trying to make a name for them selfs but at a time like this no matter if your a an boy or not gamers should stick togeter against people like this as they are stopping us gamers from doing what we like to do most and that is play games.

[ZBlacktt]

news.cnet.com starting more stories again.... ratings must be low over there. Time to make up a story to get peoples attention. Be it good, bad or made up.

Plus most of this story has been covered at least 60 times already. It's just repeating itself to death now.

Plus, everyone should know MS and Sony do work together. Sony's Vaio computer's run windows. Not Mac.

[fabiani]

ooh noooooooo this has done too much damage.they must execute the hackers. Find the ones at fault.

[Bimkoblerutso]

This is just the way journalism works these days. It's the same reason we all went bat-shit crazy here in America when the dreaded swine flu "pandemic" was allegedly supposed to leave us with a death toll as high as the outbreak in 1918.

[Jamaicangmr]

CNET,... Have you no shame you Microsoft Dogs? Give it a rest and stop with the conspiracy theory bullSh!t.

[killerhog]

SO.. i thought these hackers were fighting for us?? it seems to me (which anyone with a brain already knew) these hackers are only looking out for themselves with the intent of piracy, theft, and causing problems to others.

"intrusion on PlayStation Network was planning yet another attack on Sony, this time on an unspecified company Web site, with the goal of posting any information they could find somewhere online."

oh, yeah.. they are definitely looking out for us. they are fighting the big bad corporation (sarcasm) by posting and stealing our (customers and employees) info.

but look how it so far effecting US the *gamers*:

1.anonymous attacks on sony servers left us without online play for a day or two
2. the people responsible for the intrusion on ps3 left us without online play for 3+ weeks
3. the people who breached sonys' severs and psn are posting our info online
4. so far the only hacks coming out of CFW are hacks, pirated games, and hackers finding ways to try to bypass being banned, or dealt with, with whatever infraction they are committing
5. overall costing developers problems financially

this is similar to the same BS reasoning they gave to hack the ps3 for the removal of OtherOs. that they did it to bring back OtherOs even though it was stated (by geoholt himself) they were using OtherOs originally to hack the ps3. yet still no OtherOs from them.

this is why the judge didnt buy it, developers dont buy it and us the gamers dont/shouldnt buy it. we shouldnt be supporting these scums.

[killerhog]

let me also note:

this is only what they are doing to sony and sony customers/employees. look at what they did/are doing on the 360 (MS). they are openly/publicly advertising the theft of any xbox 360 account whether an employee or customer for a price. they threaten MS enforcement team by hacking their accounts and threatening to release info on them and their FAMILY. already hacked the new xbox dashboard. promised the release of a new firmware that will re-allow pirate games to work again. jesus dont make me write a book on how hackers are destroying and making xbox extremely unsafe, because i know people cant be this oblivious to whats going on.

we should thank sony for lasting this long and taking the steps to comeback these hackers. we should encourage sony, ms, nintendo, developers to go after these scumbags, as well as provide anything we can to ensure they succeed in going after them.

[Ilikegames76]

The playstation blog is down for many hours now. I can't access their website since yesterday. It might have been hacked

[skrug]

it works fine for me, including yesterday and today..

[RavageX]

I don't really care much for MS, but come on...this is a bit far don't you think?

You guys make it seem like after midnight, MS and Sony Ninja meet up on a secret battlefield and have fights to the death in order to determine the fate of gamers....

Wait, someone's at my door.

[CtrlAltDel]

OMG! Wait...I want in on this conspiracy theory:

It wasn't MS! I've been telling ya all along - it's Ken Kutaragi! This is his way of getting back at his replacement, Kaz Harai!

Think about it! Sony has been steadily taking out features of the PS3 since he left in 2006. He had the same motive as Anon who's fighting for Geohotz. Also; Ken probably has inside info on PSN servers! He struck at the best time to make it seem like Anonymous & left that little file too!

Watch; Sony will bring back Ken and dump Kaz for the PS4!

Or...Ken'll get caught by Anon who framed them and he'll say; "I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!"

lol....I wonder how much Sony is paying MS in licensing fees to run MS's Network OSs & databases too?

[Holeran]

"
Or...Ken'll get caught by Anon who framed them and he'll say; "I would've gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!"

LOL

[miacosa]

Cnet got it wrong, nice attempt to try and backpedal to recover. When did forum and chat room gossip become factual trustworthy news. This kinda drops the readability meter for Cnet when cover news items.

[DonnieDarko]

Remember psn went down right before xbox lives free weekend

[blackburn10]

Some companies are not beyond sabotage but I doubt Microsoft is behind this. If it ever came out that they were for any reason it would destroy them. The fact that you were willing to go as far as sabotaging a competitor means who knows what else you might do to win. No one would ever trust them again.

[Ilikegames76]

The 360 is still selling well even after the RROD fiasco. MS tried to hide the real % of the failure rate of the 360.

[Xof]

Corporate espionage IS very common, and most of the time it DOES go unnoticed. And unpunished.

That said, it's pointless to blame anyone without evidence. Saying "microsoft done it" is as hairbrained and stupid as any of the conspiracy theories about Bin Laden still being alive. H.W.Bush being the /real/ mastermind of 9/11, or JFK being killed by the CIA.

[Xof]

Ah. A most brilliant strategy: the servers can never be hacked, so long as they are always offline.

[Donthizz]

ANON members IP Addresses has been leaked, looks like its open season on Anon..

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

multiplat purchases to 360 versions... starting with Brink!

[-EvoAnubis-]

So, let me see...post an article claiming there's an attack coming...then a few days later, claim it was cancelled because of the first article. Nice and neat; never need any proof, and the second BS article cancels out the first so it can't be either proved or disproved.

That's how sites are getting hits now? Sad.

[earbus]

Sony are doing a bang up job ruining their own company having them around just makes ms look better so i doubt its them hackey sack.

[violents]

i love how some people keep complaining that these attacks never should have been allowed to happen in the first place. I doesnt matter how great of a security system you have, someone will find a way around it. I dont care what its on, a car, your house, or even PSN. Believe me someone out there is smarter than the people that made that security setup. Nothing is impenetrible. did i spell that wrong? All you can do is try your best to keep the bad guys out but at some point one will manange to make it through.

[xtremegamerage]

I don't think it's MS, but not all conspiracy theories are bs.