Items tagged with PSN
It's a sad tale of misfortune for the unsuspecting parents or relatives of kids who are given access to an account on a PC or game console that isn't properly locked down. Kids often have zero concept of money and don't realize that the virtual currency purchased in games like Fortnite costs real money. Kids are also rather ingenious when it comes to devising ways to get what they want, even if their intent isn't nefarious from the start. Case in point is a man who posted on the reddit thread called TIFU. In case you aren't familiar, this is a reddit thread where people recount the ways they have made poor decisions. The poster is called A_Sad_Frog and says that being the cool uncle he is, he...
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There are a few things that will follow you around for a long time, one of them being bad screen names. If you are a PlayStation gamer and have had a bad PlayStation Network ID for a long time that you have often wished you could change, that change will soon arrive. Rumors have circulated that name changes would be possible, and Sony has now confirmed the rumor. Sony has stated that PS Network gamers will be able to change their PSN IDs starting in early 2019. There is no firm date on when the changes will be possible. If you change your screen name and then decide you want something else, you can change as many times as you want. The caveat is that only the first change is free; after that...
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Hacker group OurMine claims to have hacked the official PlayStation Twitter and Facebook pages Sunday night. The group took credit for the hack and posted several messages to the social media accounts, which have now all now been deleted. Before the messages were deleted, they were copied for posterity. Playstationlifestyle.net reports that one of the messages read: PlayStation Network Databases leaked #OurMine Subscribe to #DramaAlert No, we aren’t going to share it, we are a security group, if you works at Playstation then please go to our website ourmine . org – > Contact If you aren't familiar with OurMine, it is a security hacker group based in Saudi Arabia that has hijacked high-profile...
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Sony PlayStation Network Finally Gains Two-Factor Authorization Five Years After Massive Data Breach
At long last, Sony has finally begun work on adding two-factor authentication to its PlayStation Network (PSN) service, a security feature that could have come in handy five years ago when hackers barged their way in resulting in an extended outage. It wasn't Sony's finest moment by a long stretch. The massive data breach compromised the personal information of every PSN user, which at the time totaled more than 77 million registered accounts. Sony had no choice but to pull the service offline while it investigated the situation and rebuilt the service to prevent further embarrassment. While Sony initially hoped to restore service within a week, the outage lasted 23 days. Now five years removed...
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If you were having trouble connecting to the PlayStation Network yesterday, you might have the hacking group Lizard Squad to thank. An hour after the group's founder posted to Twitter that "itz bouta rain packets", Sony's "Ask PlayStation" account tweeted that it was investigating connectivity issues. Lizard Squad either delivered on its promise, or is trying to reap the benefits of a major coincidence. Video games are always a hot item on big shopping days like Black Friday, so it can be expected that networks like PSN are going to get hammered simply due to the fact that so many people are trying to access the network at once. Part of the traffic surge might be from new owners trying to register...
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It took a bit of time to weave through all the red tape and get the various paperwork in order, but you can finally take Sony up on its cash back or merchandise settlement offer if you purchased a PlayStation Via handheld console before June 1, 2012, and have not returned the product for a full refund. If so, it's your turn to fill out some paperwork.The settlement agreement is the same that was reached with the FTC back in November. It's in relation to the Vita's "cross-save" functionality and how it was advertised. At the time of the complaint, the cross-save feature only worked with a few PlayStation 3 games, while the pause-and-save feature described in ads varied significantly from game...
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Not all of us are born with an abundance of patience, though sometimes you have no choice but to wait. That applies to the scores of PlayStation Network users who had their data compromised and sat through an extended service outage when hackers infiltrated the service back in 2011. Fast forward to today and you may be able to claim some restitution via a class action lawsuit. As part of the proposed settlement, anyone who had a PSN account, Qriocity account, or an SOE account at any time before May 15, 2011, is eligible to participate. "The proposed settlement offers payments equal to credit balances (if applicable credit balance is $2.00 or more) in inactive accounts, game and online service...
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An 18-year-old man living in the U.K. was picked up and arrested in Southport as part of an investigation into distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that brought down Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) and Microsoft's Xbox Live service on Christmas Day. The investigation is part of a joint effort between U.K. cybercrime authorities and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).The DDoS attacks carried out by members of the hacking group Lizard Squad caused both services to be overwhelmed with online traffic, which disrupted access. Both Sony and Microsoft were forced to shut down their respective online services as they investigated the matter. Earlier this month, another member of...
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Sony just hasn’t been able to catch a break for the past few months. The company was first the subject of a hack attack by Guardians of Peace (with perhaps an assist by Lizard Squad) and more recently fell victim to Lizard Squad’s Christmas Day attack on the PlayStation Network (and Microsoft’s competing Xbox Live). While it took Microsoft roughly a day to get its Xbox Live services restored, the PlayStation Network didn’t become fully operational again until late Saturday, December 27. “PlayStation Network is back online. As you probably know, PlayStation Network and some other gaming services were attacked over the holidays with artificially high levels of traffic designed to disrupt connectivity...
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Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Sony’s PlayStation Network were both the targets of DDoS attacks by Lizard Squad during the Christmas holiday. The acts were particularly heinous as Lizard Squad — the group that claimed responsibility for the attacks — picked perhaps the worst time to attack the networks. First of all, it took place during a time when most Microsoft and Sony employees were at home with their families for the holidays instead of working on mission-critical projects in the office. Secondly, people that received shiny new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles for Christmas were unable to get online to play their new games. Lizard Squad justified its actions as a means to prompt both Microsoft...
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Both Sony and Microsoft have been reportedly hacked today, with numerous disruptions to both Xbox Live and Sony's PlayStation Network. both services have been partially or totally offline all day, with Microsoft's official Twitter campaign chiming in to note that the service had been disrupted and that the company was working to bring it back online -- but didn't have an ETA on when that would happen. A group called Lizard Squad is currently claiming responsibility for the attack on Twitter, which likely involves spamming both networks with huge amounts of data to jam servers and make it impossible to process login requests. The attack was carefully timed to cause a maximum amount of disruption...
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Sony had a huge weekend celebrating the PlayStation’s 20th anniversary with the release of a special edition 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4 and hosting the PlayStation Experience at which the company revealed a plethora of new titles coming to its gaming platforms. However, Sony’s PlayStation Network suffered outages due to denial-of-service attacks over the weekend courtesy of a group claiming to be Lizard Squad. Sony confirmed that the network with a message that stated, “We are aware that users are having issues connecting to PSN. Thanks for your patience as we investigate.” While the original Lizard Squad Twitter account was finally suspended, a new account is claiming responsibility...
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Good news for PlayStation 4 owners who have yet to subscribe to Sony’s PlayStation Plus subscription which gives access to the PlayStation Network. The company announced today that this weekend, PS4 users will have access to the console's online multiplayer for free. Starting on September 26 at 12:00 AM Pacific, and lasting until September 29 at 12:00 AM Pacific, PS4 users will be able to play online with their friends for any game that has a multiplayer campaign or is a multiplayer-only title. This means that games, which have multiplayer campaigns, such as Diablo III, Madden NFL 15, The Last of Us Remastered, Destiny, and FIFA 15 will be available for PS4 users who are not members of...
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During the weekend the gaming industry has been suffering from a barrage of DDoS attacks. Blizzard’s Battle.net, League of Legends, and Sony’s PlayStation Network are just some of the games and services that have experienced unexpected downtime. However, it appears one hacker group is claiming responsibility for all of these attacks and more. A group called Lizard Squad has been claiming responsibility for bringing down Battle.net, League of Legends, NCSoft, and Sony’s PlayStation Network over the past week on its Twitter account. As of the posting of this article, the organization currently claims that it will be bringing down Microsoft’s Xbox Live service too....
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Have you ever found yourself yelling at Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN), "Hey, just take my money!"? Neither have we, but in case you've been frustrated with the available payment options, you'll be happy to know that you can use PayPal to make purchases through PSN (by funding your Wallet). It's a thoughtful addition, especially if you're an active eBay seller that keeps a steady flow of funds in your PayPal account. You'll find the option to use PayPal in the PS Store on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles. It also appears on the Sony Entertainment Network website, though the option all around is limited to a select few territories. They include the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Chile, and Argentina....
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Sony's been the target of more than one high profile hacker attack in the past few years, so it's understandable if the company is a bit on edge. To underscore that point, Sony Europe recently took the "precautionary measure" of resetting passwords for some PlayStation Network users in which irregularly activity was detected. That's fine and dandy, except that Sony didn't tell its members what it did. "So I've been trying for a good hour or so to try and login on my devices (PS3, Vita, phone app), and they're all saying my login is incorrect," a user posted in Sony Europe's support forum. "My initial reaction was I've been hacked and someone's changed the details, but if the details were changed...
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Hey U.S. gamers, would you like a side of PayPal with your PlayStation Network (PSN)? You can have it, now that Sony is extending the same courtesy to PSN subscribers living in North America as was already available to those who reside in Europe. It's more of an end-around process to use PayPal, as the option to add funds to your Wallet using the eBay-owned payment service is only available online and not accessible from within the PlayStation 3 console. Here's how to do it: Sign into your account at SonyEntertainmentNetwork.com Click "Add Funds to Wallet" Click "Add Funds to Wallet" a second time Click on the PayPal square and complete the process Using PayPal, you can add funds in increments...
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Sony may be reeling, but it still has quite a bit of cash stored up from prior years of success. And spend it will. The company has just forked out $380 million in order to acquire Gaikai Inc., a cloud gaming company that was just getting ready to blow up here in the U.S. Now, Sony is snapping up world's largest interactive cloud gaming company for its own uses, with the price tag to match. According to Sony, it'll use this to "establish a new cloud service, ensuring that it continues to provide users with truly innovative and immersive interactive entertainment experiences." It's tough to say what this means for existing users, but it's also notable that Sony's planning to use it right away....
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Surprise, surprise (not really), Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) is down again for more routine maintenance. This has become a regular occurrence that PlayStation 3 gamers have learned (or are learning) to put up with, and this latest bit of downtime is scheduled to last pretty much all day, according to an official blog post by Matthew Harper, Senior Manager for Sony's PlayStation Digital Platforms. "My name is Matthew Harper, and I’m part of the recently-formed PlayStation Digital Platforms Community Management team. Our mission is to keep you better informed about everything that is going on in the wide world of the PlayStation Network, to make your voice heard within the company, and...
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If you own a PlayStation 3 and are addicted to online gaming, it's time to fall in love with the PC all over again. Or read a book or do whatever it is you do when you're not tapping into the PlayStation Network (PSN). Sony is planning to perform some heavy duty maintenance on the PlayStation Network later today that will take the service offline for about 14 hours, and possibly longer. "This significant PSN maintenance period is expected to start at just after noon Pacific and will last for several hours, until approximately 2am Pacific on Monday, March 5," Sony announced in a blog post. "Unlike typical maintenance events, consumers who are already signed-in to PSN will be signed-out, and consumers...
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Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) will cease to exist as of February 7, 2012, but fear not, the service isn't going belly up. It is, however, being renamed Sony Entertainment Network (SEN) which, along with a name change, will bring about changes to the Terms of Service and User Agreement, as well as tweaks to the Privacy Policy, all of which are mandatory if you wish to continue using your merged account. Sony highlighted what it feels are the most important additions and changes to the above mentioned agreements, and they include: New terms for parents of minor, subaccount holders regarding the limitations of chat parental controls. Your reacceptance of the Terms of Service and User Agreement...
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You could almost hear the collective groans from gamers who discovered that Sony's PlayStation Network is offline today. Could it be that Sony is once again the victim of a hacker attack, one in which the real victims are online players who just want to get their gaming groove on? And worse yet, does this mean everyone's accounts have been compromised? Luckily, the answer is 'no'. "PlayStation Network will be offline for routine scheduled maintenance on Thursday, January 19th from approximately 8AM until 9PM PST," Sony announced in a blog post. Phew! During that time, you'll be unable to access the PlayStation Store on PS3, PSP, and Media Go; PlayStation Network Account Management; PlayStation...
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