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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. Score: 0 (0 votes cast) Urgent Fury Command: More...

It's an alternate opinion on this whole situation, and alternate opinions are always good to digest. Though I think the first half of his article is a bit flimsy, I can definitely see some windows of truth in the second half. Hypocrisy, sadly, is all too prevalent in today's eager-to-bitch-about-something society... _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Charles Davis Special to AOL News (July 21) -- We Brits are very attached to BP. Or our pension funds are, at least. And since our pension funds are rapidly falling apart, any Brit intent on mitigating the looming indigence of old age needs to come to the defense of this great British institution. So, as an expatriated Englishman whose pension policy is to be a burden on BP shareholders, let me suggest a different take on recent events in the Gulf of Mexico. Seen from the land of cheese-eating peace-monkeys, it would seem that a gross injustice has been inflicted on this beleaguered giant and its hapless principal, the widely vilified Tony Hayward. BP has been portrayed as negligent, greedy, arrogant and grasping. Well, there's your first positive spin right there. Negligent, greedy, arrogant and grasping has been the role an envious world has thrust upon the United States over the last half-century. Indeed, as far as the French are concerned, those words define the American model of liberal capitalism. You should be thanking that nice Mr. Hayward for relieving you of such an onerous burden. Second, there is a widespread suspicion in the rest of the world that, when Americans need oil, they're normally obliged to invade somewhere warm and dusty to get it. Oh, really! There's just no pleasing some people. Here we are, actually delivering the stuff to your very doorstep, and you're up in arms about that, too. In fact, contrariness has been the principal characteristic of the American response to this whole affair. It's worth remembering here that there has been a low-grade war going on in Nigeria for the last 30-odd years, largely because a lot of irksome locals think it might be nice if the profits from the oil that is being pumped out from under their land -- the same oil that is polluting their rivers, contaminating their crops and obscuring their skies -- could be used to educate their children. People really are unaccountable. BP took account of them, though. It did the decent thing and went as far away from people as possible -- and now it's being condemned for that, too! Some people might go further. Some people might say that the outcry against BP was slightly hypocritical in a nation dominated by a car culture that has engendered cities in which, as Martin Amis memorably observed, the only way to cross the road is to be born on the other side. A nation where it is thought that the cost of a tank of gas, like the price of a baguette in France or a pint of beer in Britain, could not climb above a certain amount without provoking social unrest. A nation where the Hummer was considered a suitable recreational vehicle for your average suburban gorilla. A nation that was, until very recently, governed by men who thought climate change was what happened when you drove from Miami to Maine. Some people might even regard as faintly grotesque the spectacle of a palaver of politicians working themselves up into a lather of moral indignation so potent that they were obliged to repeat one another's bold denunciations for what seemed like days on end. But, as I say, there's no accounting for some people. If your own moral disgust is such that you're feeling a touch embarrassed by the BP shares in your portfolio, please don't hesitate to forward the certificates to me. Mind you, I might have a slight problem explaining the acquisition away to the neighbors.