SWG Down Thread

[Celox]

Okay, folks. When the server is down, post here, please.  This will be the stickied thread that we use for when the server is .. you got it ... down!

Current SWG status (Red text & buttons = down; Green text & buttons = up):

Here's the link to reset your password.

For those of you who may have not gotten there yet. You'll need to go here first before you can log in!

[Celox]

Latest news:

this is what I got

HAVING DIFFICULTY VIEWING IMAGES IN THIS EMAIL? If so, please add soe.com (info@soe.com) to your Address Book.
   

   Customer Service Notification
May 2, 2011
Dear Valued Sony Online Entertainment Customer:
Our ongoing investigation of illegal intrusions into Sony Online Entertainment systems has discovered that hackers may have obtained personal customer information from SOE systems. We are today advising you that the personal information you provided us in connection with your SOE account may have been stolen in a cyber-attack. Stolen information includes, to the extent you provided it to us, the following: name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.
Customers outside the United States should be advised that we further discovered evidence that information from an outdated database from 2007 containing approximately 12,700 non-US customer credit or debit card numbers and expiration dates (but not credit card security codes) and about 10,700 direct debit records listing bank account numbers of certain customers in Germany, Austria, Netherlands and Spain may have also been obtained – we will be notifying each of those customers promptly.
There is no evidence that our main credit card database was compromised. It is in a completely separate and secured environment.
We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in the cyber-attacks on the company, but on May 1st we concluded that SOE account information may have been stolen and we are notifying you as soon as possible.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the attack and as a result, we have:
1.   Temporarily turned off all SOE game 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 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.
Under Massachusetts law, you have the right to obtain any police report filed in regard to this incident. If you are the victim of identity theft, you also have the right to file a police report and obtain a copy of it.
Massachusetts law also allows consumers to place a security freeze on their credit reports. A security freeze prohibits a credit reporting agency from releasing any information from a consumer’s credit report without written authorization. However, please be aware that placing a security freeze on your credit report may delay, interfere with, or prevent the timely approval of any requests you make for new loans, credit mortgages, employment, housing or other services.
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 SOE’s services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password. Additionally, if you use your Station or SOE game account 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:

[Ryian Coron]

1st

My grumpyness is growing to unhealthy levels.

[Darron Vi]

Don't forget there was a Q&A on the Sony website saying they hope to have some things back up within a week or something.
The only sort of time frame I've found.


It's the last question here: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/04/27/qa-1-for-playstation-network-and-qriocity-services/

Don't know quite what that means, but as I said haven't even heard of any time frame other then that.

[Ryian Coron]

Within a week? How reassuring.

[Diana]

Pretty pictures.

[Celox]

I have green ones, when SOE will fix this mess.

[Oranbega]

Within a week is pretty impressive considering the scope of their security breach. Inconvenient? Absolutely. But it shows quite a bit of resources being thrown at the problem on their end, human and financial.

[Can't you Sith like I do?]

HORSESHIT

[Elijas]

Cool idea Celox

[Lil-Z]

Within a week? How reassuring.

Ryian's grumpiness will form a black hole by then!

[Dalken Starbyne]

The buttons are shiny, but they need to turn green. Green is the color of awesome!

[Ryian Coron]

Within a week is pretty impressive considering the scope of their security breach. Inconvenient? Absolutely. But it shows quite a bit of resources being thrown at the problem on their end, human and financial.

Or a sign of a complete lack of security measures in the past. I mean... what do we know so far?

They learned on Mai 1st (a Sunday) that there servers have been compromised two weeks ago. The first question coming to my mind is... how so? What happened in the middle of the night on a Sunday that woke them up?
Secondly, allegedly some old data from 2007 was stolen. Makes me wonder where that information was stored and why it was still around anyway. Judging by the fact that the "real" database is allegedly unaffected, it seems to me that some back-up was stolen.

Yes, I am speculating wildly, but SoE still has to give any real detailed information.

[Ramona]

As far as I understand the credit- and debit card info is from the 2007 database.

The names, passwords, adresses and all are current.

[Oranbega]

I work with a university ISP and data center and am drawing a lot of my conclusions based on that =(. Unfortunately the company would like to give more information in many cases after a data security issue but until the issue has been resolved it's usually very dangerous to give too many specifics for fear of making the problem worse than it was in the first place.

The other thing about sony is it's a multi-national corporation that could have been storing those old back ups of low-security (by financial database standards) for tax purposes in China while the up-to-date active database is much more actively maintained in a more front-running facility for them.

I admit though, I'm just speculating wildly too :p. Plenty of time to do that when they take away our immersive RPz!