PSN OUTAGE TIMELINE: The Anatomy Of A Hack

Commander Fury · May 10, 2011

PSN Hacked: The Anatomy Of The PSN Outage

MARCH 2010:

SONY REMOVES THE ABILITY TO INSTALL THIRD PARTY OPERATING SYSTEMS (SUCH AS LINUX) ON THE PS3.

WHILE MOST PLAYERS DON’T CARE (OR EVEN NOTICE). ANOTHER SEGMENT BECOMES EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED.

JANUARY 2ND 2011:

HACKER GEORGE HOTZ, A.K.A. GEOHOT, SUCCESSFULLY JAILBREAKS THE PS3….SO THAT IT COULD DO A NUMBER OF THINGS IT SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO DO.

HOTZ THEN PUBLISHED THE PROCESS ON HIS WEBSITE, AND HIS YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

JANUARY 11TH 2011:

SONY SUES HOTZ FOR DISTRIBUTING JAILBREAK SOFTWARE TO THE PUBLIC.

CLAIMING THAT HOTZ IS HELPING PROMOTE PIRACY…BY ALLOWING ILLEGAL COPIES OF PS3 GAMES TO BE PLAYED ON JAILBROKEN SYSTEMS.

APRIL 2ND 2011:

A GROUP OF HACKERS KNOWN AS “ANONYMOUS“, BEGINS “OPERATION:SONY“….AN ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT SONY WEBSITES.

THE DEMAND IS…LEAVE HOTZ ALONE.

APRIL 11TH 2011:

SONY SETTLES WITH HOTZ.

DETAILS ARE SCARCE, BUT HOTZ AGREES TO TAKE DOWN HIS WEBSITE, AND INFO ON HOW TO JAILBREAK THE PS3.

APRIL 13TH 2011:

IN A CREEPY VIDEO MESSAGE, “ANONYMOUS” CALLS FOR A DAY OF SONY PROTEST…AND WARNS OF AN INCOMING ATTACK.

APRIL 16TH & 17TH 2011:

HACKERS DIGITALLY BREAK INTO THE PLAYSTATION NETWORK & SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT.

THEY STEAL PERSONAL PSN & SOE USER INFORMATION.

ALONG WITH EUROPEAN SOE CREDIT & DEBIT CARD NUMBERS.

APRIL 19TH 2011:

SONY DETECTS A PSN BREACH.

AN INVESTIGATION STARTS, BUT THE PUBLIC ISN’T TOLD.

APRIL 20TH 2011:

SONY SHUTS DOWN THE PSN, CITING TECHNICAL ISSUES.

APRIL 22ND 2011:

AS PUBLIC UNREST BEGINS TO MOUNT ABOUT THE PSN BEING DOWN…”ANONYMOUS” RELEASES A STATEMENT DENYING ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE PSN OUTAGE.

APRIL 26TH 2011:

SONY ADMITS THAT THE PSN HAS BEEN HACKED, AND CALLS FOR FBI ASSISTANCE.

MAY 1ST 2011:

SONY EXECUTIVES APOLOGIZE FOR THE PSN DATA BREACH AND OUTAGE.

IN THE MEANTIME, SONY & INVESTIGATORS DISCOVER A SOE DATA BREACH, AND SHUT DOWN THE SOE SERVERS AS WELL.

MAY 2ND, 2011:

SONY REVEALS DETAILS ABOUT THE SOE DATA BREACH TO THE PUBLIC.

MAY 4TH, 2011:

SONY CHAIRMAN KAZ HIRAI TELLS CONGRESS INVESTIGATORS FOUND A FILE WITHIN THE PSN THAT WAS NAMED ‘ANONYMOUS‘, WHICH HAD THE GROUP’S MOTTO…”WE ARE LEGION”, ATTACHED.

ALTHOUGH SONY DOES NOT SPECIFICALLY ACCUSE ‘ANONYMOUS‘ OF THE INTRUSION…THE COMPANY CLAIMS THE PSN WAS MADE MORE VULNERABLE BY THE GROUP’S EARLIER ATTACK, POSSIBLY KEEPING SONY’S I.T. SECURITY BUSY…WHILE OTHER HACKERS SNUCK IN, AND STOLE DATA.

MAY 5TH, 2011:

‘ANONYMOUS‘ DENIES THAT IT HAD ANY PART IN THE CREDIT CARD THEFT.

THE GROUP SAYS THAT IT IS ONLY AFTER LARGE & CORRUPT CORPORATIONS & GOVERNMENTS.

ON THE SAME DAY…

SONY RELEASES A STATEMENT SAYING

IT IS IN THE FINAL STAGES OF TESTING IT’S NEW NETWORK,

AND THAT THE PSN WILL BE RETURNING IN THE COMING DAYS.

MAY 10TH 2011:

THE PLAYSTATION NETWORK & SONY ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT ARE STILL DOWN AS OF 2 AM, EASTERN STANDARD TIME.