Sony, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3 owners can’t catch a break. The PlayStation Network is down once again following a DDOS attack allegedly by one of the groups that took credit for the bringing the PSN service down over the weekend. The hackers also diverted the airplane Sony Online Entertainment President John Smedley was scheduled to fly on.
PlayStation Network users in forums such as Reddit and NeoGAF are reporting that they are unable to access the service. Sony confirmed that the service was brought down.
Network update: engineers are aware of connectivity issues, are working to resolve. We’ll keep you posted – apologies for the inconvenience
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 26, 2014
Some PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 owners are reporting that they are able to access the PlayStation Network while others are reporting that they cannot connect. Some of those owners who can connect are reporting problems playing games, connecting to servers for publishers like Electronic Arts, or accessing the PlayStation Store and certain apps.
The same group calling itself the “ Lizard Squad ” is taking credit for the DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack. As previously mentioned, it’s accurate to call the group hackers since systems are not being breached, and there is no attempt to steal data. Instead, they are simply flooding the servers for various online services with more traffic than they can handle.
Sony appears to have a better handle on the DDoS attack this time around. It was able to restore service within a couple of hours of it going down versus the all-day outage on Sunday.
Network connectivity is being restored. Thanks for your patience.
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) August 26, 2014
This second attack and outage presents a larger problem for Sony and PlayStation owner, however, as we head into the hot period for gaming releases. Madden NFL 15 was just released today, and the company has been heavily promoting the release of Destiny for the PlayStation 4, which is due out on September 9th. If Sony is constantly battling keeping the PlayStation Network up and stable, that will be a poor experience for its customers.
Sony is not alone though as Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service was attacked Sunday as well. The attack was limited to the service’s login servers though, was not widespread, and quickly fixed. Popular PC games and services were attacked as well such as Blizzard’s Battle.net and Riot’s League of Legends .
Meanwhile, the Lizard Squad is seemingly unconcerned about the possibility of an FBI investigation for its bomb threat on SOE President John Smedley’s plane. The flight was originally bound for San Diego but was diverted to Phoenix where security personnel checked the baggage for the non-existent bomb.
Smedley would only make the following comment after discovering the reason behind the diversion.
Yes. My plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys.
— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014
Sony confirmed with Shacknews that the FBI is now involved with the investigation.
[Image via PlayStation Network (edited)]
