Sony has announced that it is rebranding the PlayStation Network under the Sony Entertainment Network brand effective immediately from February 7 onwards. This move is right in tow with incoming CEO Kaz Hirai’s strategy of integrating all of Sony’s key assets and create end-to-end integrated solutions. One the key motifs behind the rebranding of the PSN is the integration of Sony’s Music Unlimited service.

Weirdly the PlayStation Portable will continue to use the PlayStation Network branding, but the new PlayStation Vita will use the new SEN branding. This move also enables Sony to move away from the stigma it gathered due to the various hackings the network faced due to hacker group Anonymous.

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BGR has provided extensive coverage of an ongoing saga that has seen numerous digital properties belonging to Sony fall under attack. To date, personal information belonging to well over 100 million Sony customers has been compromised, and nearly 13 million credit card numbers have been stolen. For IT professionals or other tech enthusiasts with weak stomachs, we can understand if reading one story after another about Sony’s security woes might make you a bit queasy. As such, a new site launched recently that has you covered. Hassonybeenhackedthisweek.com answers a single question for those who simply want to cut to the chase: Has Sony been hacked this week? The answer right now, by the way, is “yes.”

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This post originally appeared on BGR.com

Sony’s ongoing battle with cyberattacks has already left the personal data of over 100 million customers exposed, and now the company has fallen victim to yet another attack. Details are slim for the time being, but Reuters cites a report from Jiji news service in stating that roughly 8,500 people across three countries have been affected by this latest breach. Their personal information has been leaked as a result of an attack on Sony’s Greek website on Tuesday, though it is unclear exactly what data the hackers gained access to. Sony has not yet confirmed the attacks, but its Greek website, sony.gr, was back online at the time of this writing.

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This post originally appeared on BGR.com

Sony has announced that it’s starting to bring its services back online after a major security breach leaked the credit card data and personal information of over a hundred million users. The first step for Sony’s PlayStation Network members is a firmware update that’s been issued for the PlayStation 3. After applying the patch, PS3 users will be prompted to change their PSN passwords. “Please note that these services will take a bit of time to be turned on and rolled out to the whole country,” the company said in a blog post Saturday. “The process has begun and some states are being turned on now, so please be patient as we reach your city and state.”

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On its PlayStation Network blog today, Sony gave an official statement on when the PlayStation Network will be back online. The short answer is “at least a few more days.” Sony has also promised that both Qriocity and PSN should be available by May 31, however, so it could take a bit longer, too. Both networks went down after Sony suffered a massive security breach during which hackers stole 12.3 million credit card numbers and compromised personal data from 101 million accounts. “I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored,” Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social Media Patrick Seybold wrote on Sony’s PSN blog. ”At this time, I can’t give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more days. We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process.”

[Via Reuters]

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This post originally appeared on BGR.com

Sony will access to its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services by May 31st, Bloomberg is reporting. Sony took its networks offline after a confirmed 101 million accounts were compromised and 12.3 million credit card numbers were stolen by hackers. Sony’s president, chairman, and CEO, Howard Stringer, has said Sony is “absolutely dedicated to restoring full and safe service as soon as possible,” and has promised users a “Welcome Back” package that includes a free month of its PlayStation Plus service, as well as credit for the downtime.

[Via Gizmodo]

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Sony’s president, chairman, and CEO, Howard Stringer, has issued letter of apology to PlayStation Network, Qriocity, and other Sony users who have been affected by the firm’s massive security breach. “Let me assure you that the resources of this company have been focused on investigating the entire nature and impact of the cyber-attack we’ve all experienced and on fixing it,” Stringer said. “We are absolutely dedicated to restoring full and safe service as soon as possible and rewarding you for your patience. We will settle for nothing less.” A total of 101 million accounts across Sony’s network were compromised and 12.3 million credit card numbers were stolen by hackers. However, Stringer said that there’s currently no evidence that those numbers have been misused and that Sony has issued a $1 million identity theft insurance policy for U.S. PSN and Qriocity customers, with other regions to follow. Hit the jump for more from Stringer’s letter, including information on Sony’s “Welcome Back” package.

Stringer confirmed Sony will provide customers with a “Welcome Back” package that includes one month of its PlayStation Plus service for free — it will also credit accounts for the network’s downtime. As for why it took Sony so long to alert its customers of the issue, Stringer had this to say:

As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had — or had not — been taken.

Stringer says Sony hopes to have the ship righted and services restored in the next couple of days. Hit the read link for the full letter.

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This post originally appeared on BGR.com

In its response to a congressional inquiry over recent cyberattacks aimed at several of Sony’s online networks, the company on Wednesday claimed it possessed evidence of hacker activist group Anonymous’ involvement. Sony did state, however, that it could not be certain if Anonymous knowingly carried out Denial of Service attacks in order to facilitate the theft of customer data, or if the group was merely an unwitting pawn in a scheme carried out by more malicious attackers. Anonymous on Wednesday issued a press release denying any involvement with the theft of customer data, which included over 12.3 million credit card numbers. Anonymous does acknowledge that the breach took place while it was carrying out an attack on Sony’s servers, but says it did not not participate in any data theft. The group also claims it did not leave any files on Sony’s servers — Sony stated earlier that it discovered a file called “Anonymous” on its servers following the breaches that contained a portion of Anonymous’ slogan. Hit the break for the full press release.

For Immediate Distribution
Press Release
May 4, 2011
Anonymous Enterprises LLC (Bermuda)

Last month, an unknown party managed to break into Sony’s servers and acquired millions of customer records including credit card numbers. Insomuch as that this incident occurred in the midst of Anonymous’ OpSony, by which participants engaged in several of our standard information war procedures against the corporation and its executives, Sony and other parties have come to blame Anonymous for the heist. Today, in a letter directed to members of Congress involved in an inquiry into the situation, Sony claimed to have discovered a file on its servers, presumably left by the thieves in question, entitled “Anonymous” and containing a fragment of our slogan, “We are Legion.” In response, we would like to raise the following points:

1. Anonymous has never been known to have engaged in credit card theft.

2. Many of our corporate and governmental adversaries, on the other hand, have been known to have lied to the public about Anonymous and about their own activities. HBGary, for instance, was caught lying a number of times to the press, to the public, and to Anonymous itself (in this phone call, for instance, ( http://tinyurl.com/68pbdj8) CEO Aaron Barr makes a number of untrue statements regarding the intent of his “research,” claiming for instance that he never tried to sell the information to the FBI when e-mails acquired soon showed that he had been set to do just that; executive Karen Burke was also caught lying to Bloomberg about having not seen an incriminating e-mail that she had in fact replied to just a few days before). The U.S. Chamber of Commerce lied about not having seen the criminal proposal created by them for Team Themis; Palantir lied about not having any idea what their employees were up to; Berico publicly denounced a plan that they had actively engaged in creating; etc. There is no corporation in existence will choose the truth when lies are more convenient.

3. To the contrary, Anonymous is an ironically transparent movement that allows reporters in to our operating channels to observe us at work and which has been extraordinarily candid with the press when commenting on our own activities, which is why reporters prefer to talk to us for truthful accounts of the situation rather than go to our degenerate enemies to be lied to.

4. Whoever broke into Sony’s servers to steal the credit card info and left a document blaming Anonymous clearly wanted Anonymous to be blamed for the most significant digital theft in history. No one who is actually associated with our movement would do something that would prompt a massive law enforcement response. On the other hand, a group of standard online thieves would have every reason to frame Anonymous in order to put law enforcement off the track. The framing of others for crimes has been a common practice throughout history.

5. It should be remembered that several federal contractors such as HBGary and Palantir have been caught planning a variety of unethical and potentially criminal conspiracies by which to discredit the enemies of their clients. This is not a theory – this is a fact that has been reported at great length by dozens of journalists with major publications. Insomuch as that our enemies have either engaged in or planned to engage in false flag efforts, it should not be surprising that many of the journalists who have covered us, who know who we are and what motivates us – and who have alternatively seen the monstrous behavior of those large and “respectable” firms that are all too happy to throw aside common decency at the behest of such clients as Bank of America and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – also have their suspicions that some capable party performed this operation as a means by which to do great damage to Anonymous in the public eye. Those who consider such a prospect to be somehow unlikely are advised to read about what was proposed by Team Themis in their efforts to destroy Wikileaks, and should otherwise take a few minutes to learn about COINTELPRO and other admitted practices by the U.S. intelligence community. The fact is that Anonymous has brought a great deal of discomfort to powerful entities such as Booz Allen Hamilton, Palantir, and much of the federal government; the Justice Department in particular is likely unhappy that our efforts revealed that it was they themselves who recommended the now-discredited “law firm” Hunton & Williams to Bank of America in order that the latter might better be able to fight back against Wikileaks. All of this is now public record, and anyone who finds it laughable that those or other entities may have again engaged in tactics that they are known to have engaged in in the past is not qualified to comment on the situation.

Anonymous will continue its work in support of transparency and individual liberty; our adversaries will continue their work in support of secrecy and control. The FBI will continue to investigate us for crimes of civil disobediance while continuing to ignore the crimes planned by major corporations with which they are in league.

We do not forget, even if others fail to remember.
We not forgive, even if others forgive our enemies for those things for which we are attacked.
We are legion, and will remain so no matter how many of our participants are raided by armed agents of a broken system.
We are Anonymous.

This post originally appeared on BGR.com

Nikkei.com on Monday reported that an online Sony gaming network has once again fallen victim to a cyberattack. This time, the attack may have exposed the credit card numbers of thousands of Sony customers from around the world. According to the report, over 12,700 customer credit card numbers were stolen during a breach of Sony’s online gaming network, Sony Online Entertainment. According to Nikkei.com, Sony discovered the possible attack on Sunday. Sony recently suffered a similar attack on its PlayStation Network, which was offline for days as a result of the breach. Though Sony has yet to confirm this new incident publicly, the Sony Online Entertainment portal has been taken offline while Sony investigates the matter.

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On Tuesday, Sony issued an update explaining the recent PlayStation Network and Qriocity outages. The company said it has discovered that between April 17th and April 19th, someone broke into its network and stole user information. In an effort to stop the security breach, Sony temporarily killed access to its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, hired a security firm to investigate, and started beefing up its security measures. However, the leaked information may be alarming to PlayStation network users. Here’s part of Sony’s statement:

We believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained.

Sony said that it doesn’t think credit card data was taken, but that it will not rule out the possibility, and says that it’s possible credit card numbers – excluding the security codes – may have been obtained by the intruders. The firm advises that its customers “remain vigilant” by closely monitoring credit statements. Sony says the services will be reactivated as soon as possible and that customers can dial 1-800-345-7669 with any questions. Hit the jump for Sony’s official statement.

Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer:
We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:

1. Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;
2. Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and
3. Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state, zip), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence at this time that credit card data was taken, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, out of an abundance of caution we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking. When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports. We are providing the following information for those who wish to consider it:

U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to one free credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus. To order your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.

We have also provided names and contact information for the three major U.S. credit bureaus below. At no charge, U.S. residents can have these credit bureaus place a “fraud alert” on your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to verify your identity prior to granting credit in your name. This service can make it more difficult for someone to get credit in your name. Note, however, that because it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to protect you, it also may delay your ability to obtain credit while the agency verifies your identity. As soon as one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to place fraud alerts on your file. Should you wish to place a fraud alert, or should you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact any one of the agencies listed below.

Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790

You may wish to visit the web site of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further information about how to protect yourself from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may also have advice on preventing identity theft, and you should report instances of known or suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General, and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone (877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov. For Maryland residents, the Attorney General can be contacted at 200 St. Paul Place, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202; telephone: (888) 743-0023; or www.oag.state.md.us.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority. Please contact us at 1-800-345-7669 should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
Sony Computer Entertainment and Sony Network Entertainment

[Via Tech Crunch]

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This post originally appeared on BGR.com

According to AV Watch, Sony has announced that it’s ending sales of its PSP Go portable gaming console. Sony let the wraps off of the PSP Go in June 2009, and while it is both smaller and lighter than the PSP, that comes at the cost of a UMD gaming cartridge slot. The requirement to side-load games or purchase them over the air no doubt played a role in Sony’s poor hardware and software sales in Japan. While the Japanese firm will no longer produce the PSP Go, it will continue to offer device support for repairs and updates. Sony said it will focus its efforts on the PSP-3000 and its successor, currently codenamed “NGP.”

[Via Engadget]

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This post originally appeared on BGR.com

Sony has kept its PlayStation 3 sales figures close to the vest, but on Friday the company officially announced shipment figures for its popular PlayStation 3 gaming console. Sony said that, as of March 29th, 2011, it has shipped 50 million PlayStation 3 consoles globally. Sony’s PlayStation Network, which allows users to download games, watch movies, and more, now has more than 75 million registered users in 59 countries around the globe. Sony also noted that it has shipped 8 million of its PlayStation Move motion controllers since the September 2010 launch. As of February, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming console remained the most popular gaming console in the United States – that’s no surprise given that it’s available at multiple price points, most of which are below that of the PS3. Hit the jump for Sony’s official announcement.

PlayStation®3 Sales Reach 50 Million Units Worldwide

Sales of PlayStation®Move motion controller for PlayStation®3 (PS3®) surpass 8 million units worldwide, accelerating the expansion of the PS3 Platform.

TOKYO, April 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced that the cumulative sales of the PlayStation®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment system reached a milestone of 50 million units(1) worldwide, as of March 29, 2011.  SCE also announced that PlayStation®Move sales surpassed 8 million units(1) worldwide as of April 3, demonstrating continued growth and momentum of the PS3 platform.

The PS3 system, equipped with future proof cutting–edge technologies including the powerful Cell Broadband Engine™ and RSX® processors as well as the Blu-ray disc™ (BD) player and HDMI, has delivered users with high-definition and high quality entertainment experiences since its launch in November 2006.  The PS3 system continues to evolve and enhance the user experience through new features and services delivered via software updates.

Concurrently with the introduction of PS3, SCE launched the PlayStation®Network service which now has more than 75 million registered accounts and operates in 59 countries and regions(2) around the world.  PlayStation Network supports free community-centric online game play and communication tools such as PlayStation®Home(3), and offers vast downloadable digital content, including games, movies and TV shows, through PlayStation®Store. Downloadable digital content on PlayStation Store currently totals 105,988 worldwide. In September 2009, SCE launched the new slimmer and lighter PS3 system with a new form factor and less power consumption that has been well received by users around the world.

To further expand entertainment experiences only possible on PS3, stereoscopic 3D gaming and Blu-ray 3D™ features were introduced to the system via a free system software update(4) in April and September 2010, respectively.  The feature enables users to enjoy stunningly realistic stereoscopic 3D on their PS3 system by simply connecting it to a 3D-compatible TV such as a 3D “BRAVIA” TV using an HDMI cable.  The number of stereoscopic 3D software titles has reached 89 as of April 1, 2011.

SCE launched PlayStation Move in September 2010 for North America, Europe/PAL territories and in Asia, and in October 2010 for Japan to deliver a new entertainment experience across all categories of games, from casual to core.  The PlayStation Move motion controller is used in combination with the PlayStation®Eye camera to detect the precise movement, angle, and absolute position in 3D space of the user, thereby allowing users to intuitively play as if they are within the game.  The number of PlayStation Move supported/dedicated software titles has reached 155 as of March 24, 2011, including titles such as Sports Champions, SingStar Dance and Killzone 3(5). PlayStation Move continues to expand new game play with variety of upcoming new PlayStation Move titles for 2011, including SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs(6).

With strong support from 3rd party developers and publishers worldwide, PS3 features a vast library of more than 2,128 software titles, with more than 480 million units sold worldwide(7). Recently released blockbuster franchise titles from first party studios include Grand Turismo 5, LittleBigPlanet2 and Killzone 3.

SCE will continue to further expand the PS3 platform and create a new world of computer entertainment.

This post originally appeared on BGR.com