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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 Apparently, most of it was from an outdated database that mostly held expired credit card info.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information from approximately 24.6 million SOE accounts may have been stolen, as well as certain information from an outdated database from 2007.  The information from the outdated database that may have been stolen includes approximately 12,700 non-U.S. credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security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.
Alex Navarro on Google+

122 Comments

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Yummylee

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Edited By Yummylee

Truly this is all the work of a reincarnated Osama as a systems virus.

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EuanDewar

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Edited By EuanDewar
@masonl87@gmail.com said:
" and not a single fuck was given that day "
You might want to sort out that whole we can see your email thing.
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freakin9

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Edited By freakin9

But but, I was just about to start playing Everquest.

Well fuck me sideways.

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Mabui

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Edited By Mabui

I can only imagine how bad it would be for the person who hacked the service if/when/should they get caught/found.   The amount of damages incurred by this whole thing must be - extremely expensive.

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JohnPaulVann

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Edited By JohnPaulVann

Don't be mean to Sony. Think about how many times she's put out when nobody else would touch you. 

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tourgen

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Edited By tourgen

Starting to think that geohotz guy might have been on to something.  Sony needs to hire more technically competent people and fewer lawyers.

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PureRok

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Edited By PureRok
@Dtat said:
" Wow. Sony is going under after all this. "
Let's not overblow this. Sony doesn't just make video game consoles. This is a pretty big blow to their games division, but this is hardly something that could take the whole company down.
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BradBrains

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Edited By BradBrains

Thats the final straw. Fuck sony. If I cant play the facebook game I want im done.

Jk. This doesnt affect me in the least. Also unsuprising while they investigate/update servers

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dtat

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Edited By dtat
@PrivateIronTFU said:
" @Dtat said:
" Wow. Sony is going under after all this. "
Haha. No. No they are not. "
I know. I was exaggerating.
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chilipeppersman

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Edited By chilipeppersman
@Abyssfull: haha yea  i can totally see that. He prolly hated on sony, prolly a 360 fanboy :D
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Example1013

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Edited By Example1013

At least Sony's issues don't extend to its hardware business.

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the8bitNacho

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Edited By the8bitNacho

Didn't they just issue a press release about how none of the SOE services had been compromised as a result of this intrusion? I mean, I can't blame them for putting that information out there at a time when they believed it was true. The amount of relief that washed over their player-base was likely tremendous. But coming back a week later and backpedaling on the statement isn't going to do them any favors.


Regardless, it's good to know that they're not really trying to save face. They are giving their users the honest truth and letting them know that they now think something is up. Good on them.
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deactivated-5865c6a5c9438

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What a fucking shit show.

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confideration

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Edited By confideration

Planetside is fucking cool - I had a ton of fun for a long time. I'll totally take a free month of Planetside.

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PerryVandell

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Edited By PerryVandell

It's going to be nice when all of this shit is over with. 

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Everyones_A_Critic

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The credit card I registered on PSN expired yesterday. Eat a dick and choke on it, hackers!

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ReyGitano

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Edited By ReyGitano

Poor Sony, it must really suck to be them right now. This is getting outrageous.

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fisk0

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Edited By fisk0  Moderator

2007 - since most credit cards expire every 2 or 3 years - I assume world wide - none of these would work now?

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droop

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Edited By droop

Yay! That's most likely my credit card in there!


I LOVE losing my personal data.
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rlschaefe87

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Edited By rlschaefe87

It's pretty shitty when they wait a week to tell anyone that they may have lost credit card info.


But waiting half of a fucking month!? WHAT THE FUCKING HELL!?
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deathbyyeti

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Edited By deathbyyeti

Sony wants to share your personal info with everyone

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jking47

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Edited By jking47

fuck yeah, go america, our shit is safe

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rjayb89

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Edited By rjayb89

America, fuck yeah?

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nintendoeats

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Edited By nintendoeats

Wait, so the new data...was that encrypted as well?

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craigbandicoot

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Edited By craigbandicoot

The fun never ends for Sony these days!

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WinterSnowblind

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Edited By WinterSnowblind
@jking47 said:

" fuck yeah, go america, our shit is safe "

They're just waiting another week or so before telling you guys your stuff has been stolen for months.

Good show Sony, just when I thought they couldn't possibly screw up any more, they actually manage to do something even more stupid.
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captain_clayman

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Edited By captain_clayman

man, tough times for sony.

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dezvous

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Edited By dezvous

This is an outright attack on us, the consumers, Sony's network just happens to be the platform. What a bunch of douchebags. The thing I wonder about most is, who the hell did this? I mean, I'd venture to guess that a large portion of the hacker community also happens to be gamers, wouldn't their info be compromised as well? That's what seems so strange about all this. Couldn't they potentially be putting themselves or friends and people they know at risk. 

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DougQuaid

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Edited By DougQuaid

Oh awesome! My info is probably safe.


..for fuck's sake.
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deactivated-5a1a3d3c6820c

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Shouldn't have skimped on security, eh?

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SpicyRichter

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Edited By SpicyRichter

I wonder if other companies will take notes from this: don't anger hackers

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Gabriel

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Edited By Gabriel

Hackers should be drawn and quartered.

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citizenjp

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Edited By citizenjp

That sucks! SOE, you're crazy for that one.

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ApolloBob

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Edited By ApolloBob

At least I can be fairly certain Sony's E3 Presentation won't begin with any Kaz Hirai "The next generation doesn't start until we say it does" arrogant dick waving.

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Pop

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Edited By Pop

I can't remember if I have an account on a SOE, would they e-mail me if I had? and tell me that my info might be stolen?

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megaplushie

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Edited By megaplushie

I wonder how many people are upset that Free Realms isn't working.

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Moonshadow101

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Edited By Moonshadow101  Online

Does this include SWG? If so, the entire intrusion has clearly been a nefarious plot by Bioware to smear their competition while TOR looms.

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HarrySound

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Edited By HarrySound

I played SWG for many many months......Europe always got a bad deal from them and it's good to see it continue.


I will never touch a Sony product again.
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Marino

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Edited By Marino  Staff

I really hope no one steals all my gear from 2003.

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thomasonfa

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Edited By thomasonfa

  
  

    Please Unhack into my PS3, Man!
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Cogzwell

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Edited By Cogzwell

People don't just hack online networks! This isn't just a matter of Sony got unlucky, this is a matter of Sony let a lot of people get screwed do to lack of proper security infrastructure. If this isn't Sony's fault than why is it we never see crap like this happen to Xbox live or Steam? Oh yeah! because they have secure servers! (I'd assume)

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Scarlet_Rogue

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Edited By Scarlet_Rogue

This has gone from annoying to rage inducing.

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Brackynews

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Edited By Brackynews
@Kombat:
It seems worth repeating that SOE was far enough down the priority list compared to PSN and Qriosity that it took this long to confirm two attacks took place a week before they shut PSN down. It's like they can't afford the manpower or something? WhatisthisIdonteven seems insufficient.

At some point people are going to demand one-use credit card numbers so we don't have to keep cancelling cards after these breaches. The fellow I spoke with today was very pleasant about it. (Of course they have to be.)

Anyway, between Amazon and my local conveniece store, I'm well set for XBL/PSN/Wii/iTunes cards on demand, and likely it will save me some money having time to think twice about my purchases.
Now if Steam ever gets hacked, we're completely screwed.
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hatking

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Edited By hatking
@PrivateIronTFU said:
"Have all 20 SOE users been informed of this? "


LOL...

 

Seriously though, I sort of feel bad for Sony.

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skywing

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Edited By skywing

This shit is really getting bad.  Wow.

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priorityseven

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Edited By priorityseven

Jeez, what next Sony?  C'mon.

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Raven10

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Edited By Raven10

@Landru - SOE servers are not directly connected to PSN or the PS3. They are two separate entities. While it is conceivable that the hacking of one could lead to the hacking of the other, there would be no reason to initially assume that would be the case. In fact, it wasn't until last year that SOE became part of SCEA. For many years it was a completely autonomous entity that existed outside of the Playstation brand. What this means is that the hack has effected more Sony networks than previously expected. Shame. 

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deerokus

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Edited By deerokus

While the card info is preusmably out of date, the Direct Debit info from 
Austria, Germany, Netherlands and Spain will contain bank account numbers and names and addresses.  Identity theft-tastic!

Presumably the EU will hit them with some heavy fines for that.

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TheKing

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Edited By TheKing

So, if you live in America, good news everyone! Your SOE customer info is probably safe.

WOOOO! USA! USA! USA!


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Raven10

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Edited By Raven10
@PureRok said:
" @Dtat said:
" Wow. Sony is going under after all this. "
Let's not overblow this. Sony doesn't just make video game consoles. This is a pretty big blow to their games division, but this is hardly something that could take the whole company down. "
Right now it doesn't look like it, but it was conceivable that if Sony had to pay repirations to 78 million PSN users as well as numerous government fines, the costs, which would exceed 25 billion, would be enough to sink the company. Sony's cash reserves are very, very, low after losing over $3 billion between the launch of the PS3 and last year. Most people don't realize how close the PS3 came to downing Sony. While the company does make other products, none of those products earn the company enough money to remain in business if the Playstation brand was to collapse.

According to recent reports and insider info, Sony would not be able to survive another debacle the size of the PS3. With billions already lost on the system, this is just going to pile up on it. In the end, the PS3 is going to be the most financially disastrous console in the history of videogames, actually outdoing the original Xbox unless Sony's fortunes turn around dramatically.