PSN Welcome Back Pack Details Announced by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe

Posted by James in Sony, Technology

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) have announced on their blog the details of the Playstation Network (PSN) Welcome Back Pack for PS3 & PSP users.

As mentioned in our previous article, Sony were gathering together a welcome back pack for the users who have been affected by the PSN hacking incident. They have now confirmed the details of the PSN Welcome Back Pack on their European Playstation blog.

Users will be able to choose 2 PS3 games from the following list:

• LittleBigPlanet
• Infamous
• Wipeout HD/Fury
• Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty
• Dead Nation

For those with PSP accounts, you will also be eligible to download 2 PSP games from the following list:

• LittleBigPlanet PSP
• ModNation PSP
• Pursuit Force
• Killzone Liberation

Also available are 30 days free PlayStation Plus membership for non PS Plus subscribers. Any existing PlayStation Plus subscribers will be given 60 days free subscription.

For existing Music Unlimited subscribers, they will get 30 days free subscription.

To receive any of the offers users would have to have been registered on the Playstation network prior to the 2oth  April 2011, and it is possible that in some territories, one of the games titles may be swapped for another.

The news was generally welcomed by Playstation users, but it will take time before the fallout in terms of reputation becomes clear.

Sony Playstation Network (PSN) Getting Ready To Go Back Online

Posted by James in Sony, Technology

Sony have announced that their Playstation Network (PSN) is to be brought back online by the end of May, starting in the US, Europe, Middle East and Australia.

The move comes almost a month after Sony took down it’s Playstation Network after a severe security breech in which it is thought to have had around 100 million customer details stolen by unknown hackers.

Playstation users will have to have the firmware of their PS3 upgraded to 3.6.1, which is available for download now and Sony have also taken steps to increase their security, citing:

• Increased levels of encryption
• Additional firewalls
• New early warning systems

They are also offering free insurance against identity theft where available for customers who want it.

A ‘Welcome Back Pack’ is also promised for users although the contents are not yet public knowledge, Sony have used a premium service before to offer users exclusive access to new content, demo’s and information. It would be an obvious step to include a this service in the pack for a limited time.

Sony have angered alot of people over this incident and it is expected that they will have to be generous in order to restore their reputation and keep, what was, a very loyal customer base.

Sony Admits Playstation User Information Stolen

Posted by Jeff in Sony, Technology

In a statement on their European blog, Sony have admitted that Playstation user information was compromised between April 17th and April 19th 2011.

They believe that the following information has been obtained by an ‘unauthorised person’.

• Name
• Address
• Email
• Birthdate
• Logon
• Password
• Online ID

Sony have also mentioned that purchase history, billing address and security questions may also have been obtained and that they cannot rule out the fact that credit card information may have also been taken.

The statement said, “While there is no evidence that credit card data was taken at this time, we cannot rule out the possibility”.

The Playstation network has around 70 million users worldwide and they have been warned to look out for attempted email, postal and telephone scams. It is not clear how many users have been affected.

It looks like this story could run for along time, we reported it here Sony Playstation Network still down, people are asking why it has taken a week to be told their information was compromised. Losing customer data also has precedence in many countries, for example in the UK, a few years ago Zurich Insurance was fined £2.28 million by the financial watchdog for losing the details of 46,000 of it’s customers.

You can read the Sony statement here.

Sony Playstation Network Still Down – ‘External Intrusion’ Blamed

Posted by Clive in Sony, Technology

The Sony Playstation network (PSN) is still down after Sony reveal on their US blog that an ‘external intrusion’ was to blame for the outage.

The Anonymous group has previously said that it could cause problems for the company in light of it’s legal action over the jail-braking of the Sony Playstation. Anonymous have since denied that they are to blame.

The Playstation Network and Qriocity services have been down since April 20th and is rapidly becoming a PR disaster for the company.

The timing has also been bad for the network as there is a slew of high profile titles hitting the Playstation this month, including the long awaited Portal 2 game which utilises the Playstation Network heavily.

Sony revealed that they are rebuilding the system in order to strengthen their network infrastructure, meaning that it is taking longer than they initially thought.

Re-building a system usually entails restoring backups and in this day and age, is a much quicker process than it used to be, which would suggest that they are doing alot of other things with their infrastructure and investigation.

If it is true that they have been the target of an attack on their systems then there are questions that will need answering, the Playstation network holds the personal details of all of it’s members, from email addresses to credit card information.

Was any of this information compromised? Are peoples personal details now in someone else’s hands?

Questions which Sony will have to face sooner rather than later.