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Bad News: All Sony Online Games Taken Offline, Due to That Whole 'External Intrusion' Thing [UPDATED]

Do we all get free EverQuest accounts now?

UPDATE: Sony just sent out a press release explaining the reason for the SOE outage, confirming that user information was stolen from the SOE servers in two separate incidents on April 16th and April 17th, 2011. Apparently, most of it was from an outdated database that mostly held expired credit card info. So says the release in greater detail:

This information, which was discovered by engineers and security consultants reviewing SOE systems, showed that personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007.  The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security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, Netherlands and Spain.

So, if you live in America, good news everyone! Your SOE customer info is probably safe. As for the rest of the world? Bad news, everyone! Your (hopefully) old credit card/debit card info may have been compromised. There is additional info on the situation over at SOE's website, including steps to take if your information was, in fact, compromised.

--

They say "when it rains, it pours." For Sony, these past couple of weeks have been less a pour and more of an end-of- Deep Impact brand of killer tidal wave. With the PlayStation Network still down and Sony still working on repairing the service's infrastructure in the wake of the intrusion by hackers that maybe-involved-your-identity-getting-stolen-but-possibly-it-didn't-but-more-likely-it-did, now yet another bit of bad news has befallen the beleaguered publisher.

No Caption Provided
Sony Online Entertainment, the MMO arm of Sony's games division, put up notice today that it had taken down all of its online servers due to the "external intrusion" that Sony Computer Entertainment has been investigating relating to PSN. Though SOE's PC operations had thus far remained largely unaffected, intermittent website issues had been reported and acknowledged as early as April 21st, around the same time Sony opted to take the PlayStation Network down.

So reads the statement on Station.com:

"We have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today (Monday)."

SOE would not elaborate on that statement when we asked.

SOE maintains a number of MMO franchises, including EverQuest, PlanetSide and DC Universe Online. While we don't know if the Monday timeframe is definite or just some kind of "high level ballpark estimate," we'll keep an eye on Station.com and update this story with new information that becomes available.
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alex

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Edited By alex
UPDATE: Sony just sent out a press release explaining the reason for the SOE outage, confirming that user information was stolen from the SOE servers in two separate incidents on April 16th and April 17th, 2011. Apparently, most of it was from an outdated database that mostly held expired credit card info. So says the release in greater detail:

This information, which was discovered by engineers and security consultants reviewing SOE systems, showed that personal information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007.  The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. 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, Netherlands and Spain.

So, if you live in America, good news everyone! Your SOE customer info is probably safe. As for the rest of the world? Bad news, everyone! Your (hopefully) old credit card/debit card info may have been compromised. There is additional info on the situation over at SOE's website, including steps to take if your information was, in fact, compromised.

--

They say "when it rains, it pours." For Sony, these past couple of weeks have been less a pour and more of an end-of-Deep Impact brand of killer tidal wave. With the PlayStation Network still down and Sony still working on repairing the service's infrastructure in the wake of the intrusion by hackers that maybe-involved-your-identity-getting-stolen-but-possibly-it-didn't-but-more-likely-it-did, now yet another bit of bad news has befallen the beleaguered publisher.

No Caption Provided
Sony Online Entertainment, the MMO arm of Sony's games division, put up notice today that it had taken down all of its online servers due to the "external intrusion" that Sony Computer Entertainment has been investigating relating to PSN. Though SOE's PC operations had thus far remained largely unaffected, intermittent website issues had been reported and acknowledged as early as April 21st, around the same time Sony opted to take the PlayStation Network down.

So reads the statement on Station.com:

"We have had to take the SOE service down temporarily. In the course of our investigation into the intrusion into our systems we have discovered an issue that warrants enough concern for us to take the service down effective immediately. We will provide an update later today (Monday)."

SOE would not elaborate on that statement when we asked.

SOE maintains a number of MMO franchises, including EverQuest, PlanetSide and DC Universe Online. While we don't know if the Monday timeframe is definite or just some kind of "high level ballpark estimate," we'll keep an eye on Station.com and update this story with new information that becomes available.
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Funkydupe

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Edited By Funkydupe

Blasted SkyNet!

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Portis

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Edited By Portis

Good lord.

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Bacchus

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Sucks to be Sony.

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Commisar123

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Edited By Commisar123

yay.............................

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masonl87

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Edited By masonl87

and not a single fuck was given that day

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Pop

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Edited By Pop

wow that's pretty bad, I hope they didn't get into that too, it would be crazy if they(the hackers) did.

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ttocs

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Edited By ttocs

More?  This keeps piling on...At least it's not a new issue, but interrupting more services is never good for the fans.

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craigbo180

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It just keeps getting worse and worse for Sony.

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gordjt

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Edited By gordjt

This sucks, I was hoping to play some DCUO when the PSN comes back online (hopefully) this week...

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RIDEBIRD

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Edited By RIDEBIRD

For fucks sake! I used my fucking credit card to sign up for DCUO. I cannot fucking believe how utterly terrible Sony are at handling their shit.


GAH
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Scooper

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I feel sorry for Sony.

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Make_Me_Mad

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Edited By Make_Me_Mad

In a few days, they'll be telling everyone that they may want to change their credit card information for a second time, won't they?

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carlthenimrod

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Star Wars Galaxies has become self-aware.

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teh_destroyer

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Edited By teh_destroyer
@Funkydupe said:
" Blasted SkyNet! "
yeah, sony is being held hostage by that army of robots that Giantbomb pushed back.
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MachoFantastico

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Edited By MachoFantastico

Star Wars Galaxies is doomed!

Oh wait...

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Little_Socrates

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This is just getting silly.

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Swordfish9

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Wat them Skynet are back!!

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DonPixel

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Edited By DonPixel

Brand killing tidal wave indeed, shame. 

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@carlthenimrod said:
" Star Wars Galaxies has become self-aware. "
It took itself offline.  Seems a pretty fair sign of intelligence.  Or maybe it just got locked an in a teleport screen.
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deactivated-64d26467db8de

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So, MMOs have been playable throughout the PSN outage and they're only now being taken offline? Please pardon my ignorance about these types of stories, until last week I thought "servers" were those people who bring food to you at fancy tablecloth and metal cutlery restaurants.

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StealthRaptor

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Edited By StealthRaptor

Finally some bad news that doesn't affect me.

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Azteck

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Jesus, Sony cannot catch a break it seems

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Afroman269

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Edited By Afroman269

All we need now is for a kill code that is accidentally sent out and fucks all the Blu
Ray drives in all PS3s.

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Edited By Sayishere

Im glad i dont play SWG anymore :P

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Edited By THRICE

If I was just a SOE user I would be furious. The PSN went down and Sony waited to tell us anything then dropped a bomb on us. They told those folks everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about. 


How has Sony's PR gotten this bad in 5 years? Seriously they were on top of the world for two generations and now in the eyes of the consumer they look more like the Three Stooges than a former leader of the industry.
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@Alex DC Universe Online not DC Online Universe.

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Edited By Bertlezat

"For Sony, this past couple of weeks has been less a pour and more of an end-of-Deep Impact brand of killer tidal wave. "  


Wait... killer tidal wave? in Japan?
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Edited By sameeeeam
@Scooper said:
" I feel sorry for Sony. "
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Edited By jack_daniels

Whiskey Media's weekend outage seems like a light mist as compared with this hurricane of sony's outages!

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Edited By clstirens
@THRICE said:
" If I was just a SOE user I would be furious. The PSN went down and Sony waited to tell us anything then dropped a bomb on us. They told those folks everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about. 

How has Sony's PR gotten this bad in 5 years? Seriously they were on top of the world for two generations and now in the eyes of the consumer they look more like the Three Stooges than a former leader of the industry.
"
"in the past five years"

Not to sound troll-like, but weren't we all mocking how bad their PR was five years ago? I mean, RIIIIIIDGE RACER/Giant Enemy Crab and all that?

I assume you mean that they were good before THAT.
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@masonl87@gmail.com said:
" and not a single fuck was given that day "
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PrivateIronTFU

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Edited By PrivateIronTFU

Have all 20 SOE users been informed of this?

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kmg90

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Edited By kmg90

Wait, they just took down other parts of Sony's online network after revealing that PSN had a network intrusion?

WTF?

Were they just sitting around and thinking after 2 weeks they might want to check their other services?

Seriously!?

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dtat

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Wow. Sony is going under after all this.

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Cirdain

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@Vegsen said:
" @masonl87@gmail.com said:
" and not a single fuck was given that day "
"
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wickedsc3

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It just keeps getting worse for sony.

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SpicyRichter

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Edited By SpicyRichter

I wonder what the long term fallout of this will be vis-a-vis customer relations for Sony? A lot of friends with PS3s are PISSED right now. Now they're reaching into the PC market to piss those people off. We all know how mad dedicated MMO people can be.

If it's down long enough, will people just move on? What kind of down time would they be looking at for them to lose a meaningful percentage of users?

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Sambambo

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Edited By Sambambo

I own a PS3 and my details are most likely in the hands of hackers, but this news makes me happy. Sony have an unrelenting smugness, and hopefully this will either put them in their place, or make them try harder. Win Win.

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SeriouslyNow

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@clstirens said:

" @THRICE said:

" If I was just a SOE user I would be furious. The PSN went down and Sony waited to tell us anything then dropped a bomb on us. They told those folks everything was fine and there was nothing to worry about. 
How has Sony's PR gotten this bad in 5 years? Seriously they were on top of the world for two generations and now in the eyes of the consumer they look more like the Three Stooges than a former leader of the industry.
"
"in the past five years"Not to sound troll-like, but weren't we all mocking how bad their PR was five years ago? I mean, RIIIIIIDGE RACER/Giant Enemy Crab and all that?I assume you mean that they were good before THAT. "
I think he's lost a decade there or something.  Even so, during the middle of the PS2 era Sony got quite a lot of stick for lasers going bung just outside of warranty.
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PrivateIronTFU

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@Dtat said:
" Wow. Sony is going under after all this. "
Haha. No. No they are not.
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andrewf87462

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It's just going from bad to worse at the moment for Sony.
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We'll look back in a few years and say 'Sony who?' 

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Edited By animateria
@Bertlezat said:
" "For Sony, this past couple of weeks has been less a pour and more of an end-of-Deep Impact brand of killer tidal wave. "  

Wait... killer tidal wave? in Japan?
"
Too soon.
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Tibber

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Edited By Tibber

glad i don't play those

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What?! No PlanetSide or SWG?!

  
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@PrivateIronTFU said:
" Have all 20 SOE users been informed of this? "
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@Bertlezat said:
" "For Sony, this past couple of weeks has been less a pour and more of an end-of-Deep Impact brand of killer tidal wave. "  

Wait... killer tidal wave? in Japan?
"
No
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unsolvedparadox

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Edited By unsolvedparadox

Another vulnerability, just discovered? How many SOE users have continued to expose themselves to additional data theft since the initial announcement/PSN takedown as a result?


This story gets scarier and scarier...
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Pink_o_mat

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Edited By Pink_o_mat

Any Sony online services left unhacked?