PLAYSTATION NETWORK DOWN SERVERS CRASH WEBSITE MAINTENANCE PSN PS4 PS3 HACKED (US) 9/1/2016
PlayStation and PSP owners can now enable two-factor authentication on their PlayStation Network accounts, adding a much-needed layer of protection to a service that has suffered severe security breaches in recent years. Sony confirmed that users would be able to activate two-factor authentication on their accounts in a tweet last night that linked to a new security page that explains how the process works. Users who choose to activate the safety measure will receive codes via SMS that they"ll need to input alongside their password and username as before.
It"s a welcome move by Sony, but it"s come conspicuously late a full five years after the company suffered adevastating hack that compromised the personal details of 77 million PSN users. Rival Microsoft started offering two-factor authentication for its online accounts (including Xbox Live)more than three years ago, and Sony has facedcontinuous criticism from PlayStation owners for not doing enough to stop account hijacking. Two-factor authentication still isn"t totally hack-proof, but it does offer an extra layer of account security that might stop nefarious forces from getting their hands on all your games, making it a good idea to enable as soon as possible.
Creating a New PlayStation Network (PSN / SEN) Account on the PS4
UPDATE SEVEN: DDOS group Poodlecorp have taken credit for the PSN going down again today.
The collective posted a message on their official Twitter account, revealing that they had targeted the PlayStation Network this morning.
Since then, users in the UK and North America are reporting problems accessing core features.
"My PS4 keeps timing out when I"m trying to connect to the PSN in Tennessee," one user wrote.
While another added: "Keeps letting me sign in get ready to play a game and bam signed out. My brother is having same issue."
It follows a flurry of recent DDOS attacks that have affected several prominent gaming networks this week.
Blizzard"s Battle.net was one of the first to be hit, taking down Overwatch and Hearthstone, followed by the PSN.
PS4 users were unable to login for over an hour, before the group moved onto disrupting Rockstar"s GTA Online servers.
UPDATE SIX: Rockstar Support has now confirmed that players can access GTA 5 on all platforms again, following a long outage.
A hacker group has taken credit for the downtime, the studio has not revealed what caused the game to go offline earlier today.
"GTA Online and Social Club connection issues have been resolved," an official Rockstar message confirms.
The Rockstar site is now showing full green lights for every platform.
PoodleCorp, the DDOS group behind earlier network outages today, have hinted at a bigger attack on the PSN, but the PlayStation Network is currently stable according to the Network Service Status page.
There are currently no widespread reports of any other multiplayer issues, Destiny is currently unavailable, although that is due to official scheduled maintenance being carried out by Bungie until 8pm, BST.
UPDATE FIVE:GTA 5 fans trying to sign in to GTA Online are being greeted by error messsages.
Players hoping to try out GTA 5"s online mode are faced with the following alert on Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC: "Files required to play GTA Online could not be downloaded from the Rockstar Games service.
"Please return to Grand Theft Auto V and try again later."
UPDATE FOUR:The GTA 5 servers are now completely down, according to Rockstar.
That includes the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC versions of the game, as well as the Rockstar Social Club.
UPDATE THREE:GTA 5 server status is limited according to an update on the Rockstar support page.
The Rockstar support page says that access is limited on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC.
"Please stay tuned to this page for the latest GTA Online server status updates," the page reads.
"The status boxes above will be updated whenever there are known issues entering or staying connected to GTA Online, so you can keep informed during outages or scheduled maintenance periods."
UPDATE TWO: Hacker group PoodleCorp has also claimed responsibility for causing connectivity issues in GTA 5.
The group tweeted: "We were responsible for the disconnecting on GTA V btw."
While Rockstar is yet to issue an official statement, players have been complaining about being unable to connect on Twitter.
UPDATE ONE: The current outage affecting PS4 and PS3 owners trying to use the PlayStation Network is apparently only "a small test."
Those behind the DDOS attack say they are planning something much larger for later, no time has been given.
"Small test on PSN for a later much bigger attack," a message from DDOS group, Poodlecorp reads.
In a recent interview, a spokeperson from the group confirmed that members from Lizard Squad, those behind the notorious holiday outages, were part of the collective.
Fans should be prepared for further PSN down warnings throughout today, no other network has been threatened as of yet.
While the official PSN status site currently lists the network as being online, many users are reporting that they cannot access many core features.
Some PlayStation 4 owners say they are being hit by "PlayStation Network is currently undergoing maintenance" error messages when they try to login, leaving many without multiplayer options.
"First day of vacation and the psn network is down? Just my luck," one affected user wrote.
A hacker group is claiming responsibility, most likely employing a DDOS attack to overwhelm the servers.
The group"s official Twitter account posted the message: "PSN Down," Poodlecorp are thought to have employed the same tactics against Pokemon Go recently.
Sony have yet to respond to the reports, and it is unclear just how severe this outage could turn out to be.
Both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live servers were taken offline during a huge holiday blackout in 2014, taking several days for the services to return to normal.
Sony has gone to considerable lengths to combat hackers since PSN was infamously compromised in 2011.
Taking PlayStation services offline for weeks and forcing Sony to dish out free games to everybody affected, hackers famously gained access to millions of PSN usernames, passwords and private information.
But even with regular periods of downtime and maintenance, PS4, PS3 and Playstation Vita owners have still experienced the inconvenience and stress of having their accounts hacked and PSN email addresses changed.
Update:All PlayStation Network services are now back up and running, according to thePSN Status page.
Original Story:PlayStation Network is currently experiencing issues, limiting users" access to content from PlayStation Now and Sony"s online marketplace.
Additionally, the PSN Status page confirms that both gaming and social features are also facing problems. As such, you may be "experiencing issues related to launching games, applications, and/or social features such as trophies, messaging, or friends list."
Sony is aware of the situation and asks for your patience while these issues are being addressed.
Stay tuned to IGN, as we"ll keep you updated on the network"s status until it"s back online.
Alex Osborn is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Coming into the weekend, Sony"sonline system, the PlayStation Network, has been experiencing some rough technical issues. The biggest being download times. Anybody who tried downloading Batman: Arkham Knightwas stuck waiting hours for it to finish. Other issues included error messages when trying to load up multiplayer releases such as Call of Duty, Destinyand others. Even those who were running single player adventures that require online pay were met with issues. Those issues have since been fixed and Sony will be undergoing maintenance this Monday.
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Sony did not say what the issue was, just that the routine maintenancewill be occurring several times throughout the next few days.
"Routine maintenance and improvements for PlayStation Network will be performed for approximately 1.5 hours on Monday, June 29, 9:30 p.m. PDT (June 30, 4:30 a.m. GMT) to June 29, 11:00 p.m. PDT (June 30, 6:00 a.m. GMT). Anyone who already has a PlayStation Network account can still sign in to their PlayStation Network profile, play games, and use most applications while this maintenance is carried out," Sony saidon their page.
During this time users won"t be able to access certain features such as PlayStation Video and Account Management on their PSNaccounts. All other features will still be okay according to them. Sony advises anybody with a PlayStation 4 should turn on their system before the maintenance.
"We strive to ensure that PlayStation Network services are available at all times," the company continued. "Occasionally we must take PlayStation Network offline to perform essential maintenance and implement feature enhancements. We are working hard to reduce the duration of each maintenance."
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After Sonys PlayStation Network (PSN) intermittently went down yesterday, reports claim that the hacking group Lizard Squad might be behind the outage.
Disgruntled online PSN gamers took to social media, complaining they were unable to go online with their PlayStation 4 or PlayStation 3 consoles, which prevented them from playing multiplayer games such as Destiny and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. Other issues also surfaced when trying to connect single-player games, including Bloodborne, to third-party servers.
Sony confirmed that the PlayStation Store, PlayStation Video, PlayStation Vue, PlayStation Now, and all social features were inactive. You may be experiencing issues related to signing in or creating an account on PlayStation Network, the company posted on its website, in response to a barrage of nervous questions from customers.
The bad news is that Lizard Squad is back as it claimed it was responsible for the recent PSN outage at more or less the same time people started complaining about the network problems. The group also tweeted that it was launching an attack on PSN servers moments before DownDetector realized hundreds of gamers were complaining about it. The group even provoked the FBI by saying none of its members had been indicted, though another report indicated that a few were charged.
Before Christmas last year, PSN went down for nearly five days amid an outage that limited Sony services to offline and rendered thousands of brand new consoles useless for gamers all over the world. Lizard Squad was held responsible for the massive DDoS attack and the group admitted its motivation to carry out the attack with the statement: Some lizards just want to watch the world burn. The attack also wiped out Microsoft Corporation Inc.s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox Live for around 24 hours.
However, just because the cyber rebels have claimed they made the attack doesnt necessarily mean they did it. There is a possibility that someone else was controlling the Twitter account and pretending to be the Lizard Squad. An unscheduled maintenance could be another reason for PSN servers to go down, which has happened in the past.
VentureBeat asked the Japanese company about what caused the problem, but Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) has not said anything on the issue yet.
