Sony CEO: "Free" PSN Wasn't a Likely Target

[Tom Goldman]

Sony CEO: "Free" PSN Wasn't a Likely Target

Sony may not have thought the PSN was a target for hackers due to its nature as a free service.

Sony did its users a solid in this console generation by making its online service, the PlayStation Network, completely free. In light of the recent PSN hack attack [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109568-Sony-Admits-Private-PSN-Info-Has-Been-Stolen-All-Of-It] that took Sony's servers down for more than three weeks, CEO Howard Stringer seems a little caught off-guard that his company was helping gamers out with a free service which then got hacked.

"We have a network that gave people services free," Stringer told Bloomberg. "It didn't seem like the likeliest place for an attack."

He added that Sony believed it had "good, robust security." Even if true, Stringer's comment seems to hint that Sony may have had a mindset of "we scratch your backs, you scratch ours" when it came to PSN security because the service was free.

However, at the same time Sony was removing features like claimed [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100631-Air-Force-Might-Be-Troubled-by-PS3-Other-OS-Removal] it had nothing to do with the server intrusion that brought down the PSN.

It was definitely a jerk move to hack into the PSN and possibly remove personal information (which hasn't been confirmed yet), but that's the way of the internet even without Sony inflaming people's opinions against it in these various ways. People will hack into anything nowadays, so if you taunt them it's all but assured. All we can do is hope that Sony learned its lesson and will do everything it can to prevent future attacks.

Source: Bloomberg [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-27/sony-s-stringer-blindsided-by-hackers-who-probed-flaws-with-vow-to-attack.html]


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[Kopikatsu]

I...kind of agree. If my company offered a service for free that other companies make you pay out the ass for, I would expect anyone wanting to harm the company to look elsewhere.

Is it so hard to resist the urge to hack things? I mean, hell, the latest Pokemon game was supposed to be hack proof and someone put the ROM up within two hours or something.

 

[mjc0961]

Well it's not like those of us using PSN went and hacked it, Howard. I'm a bit confused by your statements here. Nobody using PSN said "By golly, this free online play is great. But you know what would be more fun? Hacking it!"

 

[Waaghpowa]

I...kind of agree. If my company offered a service for free that other companies make you pay out the ass for, I would expect anyone wanting to harm the company to look elsewhere.

Is it so hard to resist the urge to hack things? I mean, hell, the latest Pokemon game was supposed to be hack proof and someone put the ROM up within two hours or something.

I'm with you on that, if I provided my service free of charge I would think that people would leave me alone and not attack me for doing so. Now that it's happened, what if Sony starts charging for their service? Are they going to get attacked for NOT being free? Sounds like a double standard to me.

 

[MrGFunk]

This is a good shout from Sony.

Whoever did this gained no favour with me. I think hackers are idiots who do are doing it for no more than notoriety, proven by, hiding behind the anonymity and yet identity of a group.

 

[Firehound]

Stop whining and do something sony?

 

[Uber Waddles]

Sony stored personal information so they could have monthly charges go through automatically.

That was the issue. Once you decide to store data instead of letting it be stored locally, you run into this problem. You made yourself a target with stored data.

No one wanted to shut you down, they wanted money.

 

[Low Key]

It seems as if Sony is playing the "Why are you picking on me? I didn't do anything wrong" card. Maybe they need a refresher course on their OtherOS feature they took away, the crack that brought it back, and the subsequent lawsuit.

 

[Canid117]

I...kind of agree. If my company offered a service for free that other companies make you pay out the ass for, I would expect anyone wanting to harm the company to look elsewhere.

True but when you target an individual hacker that has a lot of sympathy with the community and come across as the type of huge douchebags that hackers hate.

 

[v3n0mat3]

I think it goes without saying that Sony isn't going to easily let this happen again.

 

[vxicepickxv]

I think it goes without saying that Sony isn't going to easily let this happen again.

Unless thry missed something, then it's going to fold as fast as a card house in a tornado.

 

[mad825]

Sony, you are digging your own grave, stick-up to the fact that you failed to provide the protection should've been in place regardless what the "risks" may have seen to be. This is the internet (World Wide Web) anything and everything will try to compromise your security

 

[gibboss28]

Am I missing something? People on the free PSN can still buy stuff from the PSN store...how did it not seem like a likely target?

or am I missing the point entirely?

 

[Anti-Robot Man]

Free services get hacked all the time (Gmail and Hotmail for example are contantly under siege). There is no way anyone running any sort of online service would be unaware of this, this is basic spin doctoring.

Also the "free" online was a business decision not some sort of charitable act, it was heavily touted as one of the benefits of buying a PS3, and a key way of distinguishing it from the Xbox.

 

[Dogstile]

Is it so hard to resist the urge to hack things? I mean, hell, the latest Pokemon game was supposed to be hack proof and someone put the ROM up within two hours or something.

See that? To me, that sounds like a challenge.

Like when my college told me that I couldn't get around their system to stop me from getting onto the escapist in my lunch break. Me and a friend had a look around, wrote a batch file that broke it and showed it to them.

People like a challenge.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

I never thought that PSN was hacked because it was free. Still don't. They were hacked because of the whole issue with Geohot; I'm not saying he caused it, but it's the issue that Sony was actively prosecuting people who hacked their PS3s that they bought and legally owned.

I don't agree with hacking, but suing a person for tampering with an item they own is kind of fucked up. Maybe if Sony could prove illegal activity was done from the console, but simply because it was tampered is just silly.

 

[linkvegeta]

They got hacked because they kept pissing people off by taking away features such as ps2 backwards compatibility and mainly other OS feature. You don't make a console that does everything then start taking the best pieces out.

 

[ZeZZZZevy]

While that's all well and good, some people did pay for PSN+

and it's likely the stunt was just a hate crime anyway

Regardless, there's really no excuse for bad security, and this is a very large excuse
I will agree in that this scale of attack isn't possibly something you could forsee, so most of the blame still goes on the hackers

 

[Popido]

Sorry, but that statement just begs for symphathy.