PS3 Blog


News: They're Back! (PSN)
Created: 16-05-2011 08:29

They're Back! (PSN)

Finally the news we have all been waiting for - PSN is back up! (In Europe and the US anyway, other countries may have to wait a little longer). Update your firmware, set a new password and you'll be gaming like you've never been away.

I accidentally discovered the firmware update yesterday morning asking me to update to 3.61, slightly before the network came back up properly. It took another few hours before PSN would let me log in. I actually changed my password via the neat little Android PSN app which I can recommend. It told me about the required password change and pointed me off to the Web page. This then sent me an email with a unique URL in it valid for only 3 hours. I followed the URL, reset my password and 'hay Presto', I could log into PSN via my PS3 and Battlefield 1943 once again felt my destructive presence. From now on, you will only be able to change your password from the PS3 where the account was registered from, or your associated email account. Sony have put in place more firewalls and an early warning system to detect suspicious activity amongst other improvements.

On a personal note, although I have missed playing online multiplayer games I did discover some more uses for my PS3. I finally got around to purchasing a PlayTV device for only £15 second hand from GameStation. I also upgraded my hard disk to 500GB giving me an amazing digital TV PVR now. It works brilliantly and I cannot fault it. I also managed to pick up some dirt cheap PS1 games from a local car boot sale. No online play required and still excellent local multiplayer fun.

A new email from Sony today is letting EU customers know about PSN coming online again and the new security measures. In addition, it also says:

"To thank you for your patience whilst PSN has been unavailable, we'll be rolling out a Welcome Back programme for all PSN users shortly; this will include free games to download and a month's free subsciption to PlayStation®Plus (or a free month for existing members). Once available, we'll publish a full list of Welcome Back offers in your country at eu.playstation.com/welcomeback"

More rumours have surfaced (via Bloomberg News) about the source of the attack against the Sony servers. It looks possible that it came from Amazon's EC2 cloud servers where someone had been allowed to open an account using fake credentials in order to launch the attack. Tut, tut, tut... naughty Amazon. This highlights how easy it is to sign up for online services without having to prove who you are. Not wanting to give your life story in order to open a Web based email account is one thing, but being able to hire a cloud of computing power using fake information is no joke. No doubt Amazon will be legally requested to hand over the access logs for the account in question so the investigation can be taken further.Hackers beware... the net is closing in!


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