Sony to answer Congress' PSN outage questions

In an announcement on Saturday, Sony said most PlayStation Network services will be restored this week. However, nearly 13 days after service came down, it remains down, and Sony's investigation into the matter continues.

It's this ongoing investigation for which Sony has enlisted the help of a private information security agency, the FBI's cybercrimes unit, and The Department of Homeland Security. Now, the company has announced it will cooperate with the US Congress by answering a series of questions put to it by the US House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce's Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade.

[Joni-Ice]

GameSpot just reported Sony will answer questions before the 6th.

Here is the link...

http://www.gamespot.com/new...

[pspgweber]

so 3 more days to go!

[madcowz64]

Well that's the dedline they could answer sooner, but who knows. Sometimes you wish there were hourly reports on whats going on(Instead of hourly reports of the same news).

[Bear_Grylls]

They should tell the US congress to go STFU! and quit wasting time on meaningless BS.

Murica F yeah.

[Oschino1907]

Exactly Bear_Grylls, first thing i thought upon reading was similar to when they did the Baseball Steroids hearings, it was like a bunch of fans and average joes asking them questions, its like a random panel of people from all over the U.S. asking random questions that have already been explained or could be much further and easier understood if they just picked up some books or read some articles. Just another waste of time that could be spent on much more important things. Sometimes congress worries me cause they go out of their way to try and look busy with stupid stuff like this.
Wish my job allowed me to waste time on meaningless projects as long as i looked like i was actually doing something meaningful. Get it over with and let them put the network back online, been waiting months to replace PS3 cause blu ray went and when i finally get one the network is down and i cant activate system or transfer any game data, just want to play my damn games.

[Thugbot187]

@Bear_Grylls and @Oschino1907

Maybe it's time you guys picked up a book and read what the job of congress is in situations like this.

[Oschino1907]

@Thugboat, have you ever watched a hearing with members of congress before? they arent all exactly the most well rounded when it comes to many topics and often they are out of their league and would be better off listening to their own experts within the government or allowing them to handle it instead of them. I have seem some hearings that were total jokes like the Baseball Steroids ones.

So maybe you should pick up a book and read about how everything isnt perfect and sometimes people need to just get out of the way and let the people who know what they are doing get the job done.

[morganfell]

Still, the title is misleading.

They state it as if the US Congress, who does not have the power to do so, has ordered that Sony 'MUST' answer questions first. As I said, misleading and certainly a very poor attempt at journalism.

[Death]

U.S Congress doesn't have the power to order Sony to answer questions regarding the safety of U.S citizens? You are kidding right? You honestly think Sony is a higher power than U.S. Congress? Wow. You should have called Mr. Toyoda before he was summoned before Congress last year and saved him the trip.

-Death

[MeanOldman]

too bad you not too smart mr death. congress dont have no power. they can get a judge to sign a supoena an the court can order it. but thas the court. they has the power. congress dont have no power to order people themself. you need to go back to government class dude. i guess if you call the cops an get them to arrest somebody beatin you ass you think you have the power to arrest. you dont. is the cop. same thing here an you dont know that neither.

[xxLuckyStrike]

Damn skippy they better answer to the USA.. You delusional Sony cheerleaders must realize this was a global failure of epic proportions.. Sony may never fully recover from this blunder!!!!

Additionally, how unprofessional has the handling of this security breach been? Down 2 weeks with no kind of immediate back up plan for your millions of users!! Pathetic!!

[majiebeast]

Lets hope same doesnt go for eu.

[joeyisback]

where in it does it say sony must answer to congress before the psn goes back online in the us?

[goaliegonzalez28]

I just want to play online already

[DontShoot-Me-Bro]

Damn, isit really that big of a deal.

I have a credit card, and i have my credit card on PSN.

But i live in a civilized country where if anything fraudelent appears on my account, my bank will contact me, if they dont and i see it in my statement then i will contact them, it will be sorted 1 way or the other, but i know i will get my money back.

When PSN is back up i will put my credit details again.

I dont care what details the hackers took, 2 things i wanted to know was, what kind of security did Sony have to stop this kind of attack...AND WHEN IS PSN GOING BACK UP!

Edit: isnt the house of representatives like your politicans?, haven't they got anything better to do lol. Like making jobs in the US so less people are unemployed, or reducing the US deficet.

[ozsman]

wtf really? ((I dont care what details the hackers took)),

[DontShoot-Me-Bro]

Well there is nothing they can do, people might say oh they can take out loans because they have all your info... or they could do this or that. Nearly anything they can do they will need physical proof. Birth Certificate, Passport, Driving Licence. All they can do is buy things with my credit card details. Which i know will be fine because i have had fraudelent behaviour on my bank account before, and got my money back no hassle.

And no one should care especially as Sony have come out and said all thier stuff WAS encrypted.

[soundslike]

Representatives represent the people

Thats it.

If they get a call about a concern by the people or a past voter of theirs, they have the ability to bring it up in the house/senate. If it was always just giant issues, then they wouldn't be as useful as you think.

It's not always life threatening and they do go through quite a few issues in a day, so don't expect anyone to actually care about this enough to waste time dedicated to more important issues on it. They'll spend a little bit time on it and move on to the next thing on the list for better, or for worse.

[DontShoot-Me-Bro]

Oh i see, i thought you would have a seperate 'group' or committee for these 'smaller' issues.

But yeah i guess your right.. that its good to know that these not so big issues are still being dealt with by people high up, thanks for informing me.

bubbles.

[Soldierone]

I trust my banks and private companies with this specific issue than I do congress...Hell these private companies and banks are better suited to handle and question sony any day of the week on this issue.

What are they going to do? Prohibit one of the worlds largest companies from selling products in the US? Or publicly release their plans for a more secure PSN so the hackers get free access to it?

There is a problem, Sony addressed it, if Congress needs answers the FBI is their next door neighbor so ask away.

[blackburn5]

Sigh. What fresh hell is this now? All I wanted to do is play video games but it has become a complicated chore as of late. It's offical. Gaming has become corrupted beyond anything it was before. *holds head* I hope that who ever did the hacking in the first place when they catch him, they have a public beating letting everyone who he wronged participate.

[flyingmunky]

Blame the internet and online play I guess.

Its the reason we get overpriced dlc, patches for broken games, and fan-boy flame wars. Not to mention the security issues present this generation, I never had to enter any personal information in the old generations so it was never in jeopardy.

[noxeven]

My hobby is dead, back on topic I read in another article that sony declined to go congress wonder if thats why now they have to go to bring it back in the us

[RyuCloudStrife]

.

[Cyorg]

That's what she said.

[KeiserSosay4788]

I don't think the title of this article appears anywhere in the original. WTF?

[ZILLA]

be afraid...be very afraid.the SEAL SIX will get you,make no mistake about it.just like UBL,two shots and a splash of water(period)

[Tru_Blu]

l o f'ng l. I can see it now, some guys mom running down to the basement yelling, 'what did you do, helicopters are hovering over the house and guys are sliding down ropes.'

[QUILESXIII]

$60 on socom...play for 2hrs WTF.

[hiredhelp]

Try a harder setting stay off easy setting.

[hadouken007]

Aw come on already

[Knightofelemia]

Bring it back up and running then answer Congress

[DWOM]

well... fill it up and sony is ready to roll on~ (I mean Sony'll be BACK!)

[Jlv123]

how did you people play games before there was online multiplayer come on I remember back in the day when pc games were the only games that you could play online I only play single player games or have friends come over and play local multiplayer games. that is why developers never spend too much time making good single player games because all people want this generation is online multiplayer and developers can charge you money to play online and they remove split screen local multiplayer so you have to buy two games two systems and pay for two online accounts *cough* Xbox live*cough*.

[Jazz4108]

your not thinking. Xbox live made online console gaming and sony followed. Try to remeber that before you bash ms as you would not have half of what ypu have on psn if it was not for live.

[leogets]

lol so ps2 wasnt online right? riiiiiiiiiighty ho. whatever lol

[Jlv123]

hi I wasn't attacking ms I just used them as example and psn isn't doing good as you can see and nintendo dosen't really have too much online set up Xbox was not the first gaming home console to have online mutilplayer the dreamcast was and it was free but MS did improve the way we played online.I like Microsoft I like their computers I own three xbox 360 tow ps3 and 1 wii so before you say I bash only one company I bash them all equally if I don' like something about it I say so not because I hate them but hoping one that it will change back the way it was 10 years ago or improve on it before where making good games was important instead of making a quick buck and throwing just a game together based on online multiplayer and DLC instead appealing to everyone’s needs instead just people who play online and don't get me started on how DLC use to be a benefit instead of a scam to make more money off you and with online updates they can sell you games that run like sh** or are incomplete instead of taking their time and making a great game or system I talking about every one of them but there are few that do work hard for their customers but I am not saying who because I hate people who bash fanboys because they love what they buy if you are bully and you like picking on people who only like one system or gaming company grow up and get a life. Where did I say sony did it first I never said that nor did I say anything good about sony you just guessed that I was because this is news about sony. I am gamer before I am fanboy I buy games that are good and not just because one company makes it though if they make more than one in a row I might trust them more than others.

[Exydoz]

4 f-sake I wanna play black ops multiplayer and kill some noobs!!! when is the psn gonna be up n running again? this is getting more ridiculous by the hour! Ohh well got "The God of War Collection" today guess i'll kill some monsters in the meantime...

[KarrBOMB]

If your old enough to have a credit card and do have one, then the possibility of the info being stolen is annoying. And if your unlucky enough to have had someone steal your info or had to deal with anything like this, then you understand how long this could affect you and what a headache cleaning things up can be.

I'm glad that this is being looked into more intricately because I've had to personally fight to get unauthorized charges taken care of in the past. Not every CC Company, Bank or Credit union is as easy to deal with as you think. So anyone saying that they don't care about their info being taken, either is to young to have a credit card or doesn't understand the full implications of problems it can cause. It took me years and repeated faxing of the same police report to deal with my stolen info. It's not a fun thing to deal with.

[joeorc]

"The Japanese electronics giant has retained a team from privately held Data Forte that is led by a former special agent with the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service to work alongside the FBI agents, who are also probing the matter."

also:

Sony said on Tuesday that it has also brought on cyber-security detectives from Guidance Software and consultants from Robert Half International Inc's subsidiary Protiviti to help with the clean-up.

to top it off

"It's a significant operation," said David Baker, vice president of services with electronic security firm IOActive, which is not involved in the investigation.

He said that card issuers Mastercard and Visa Inc had likely appointed a firm to investigate.

Sony also said that it hired the law firm Baker & McKenzie to help it with the investigation.

congress will get their answer's

[Treyb3yond]

Wahhh they sued geohotz! Wahhh they won't let us hack the ps3 and pirate games and cheat online!!! Wahhhh!!! WAAAHHHHHHH! Those mean ol bullies!!! Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Momma! Did you see what that meanie beanie Sony did to poor little defenceless geohotz? Let's get em momma! Let's fix it so the little guy can't play games online. That'll teach that naughty Sony to bully the little guy!

They're so big and mean, let's make sony cry until they never, ever makes games for the little guy again!

Don't worry all you normal people, we are here to protect YOUR freedoms and rights!

Derp!

[Ricco-Warrior]

ow my braincells began to punch me by reading this

[Oschino1907]

Let me translate that for all the -_-_-_-_-_-_- and other douches out there.... Herp derp herpa, Rob Schnieder, derpa herp derp, Stanleys Cup, herp derpity derp, Adam Sandler derpity herp. Awesome-O DERP!

[REALZILLA]

My government dollars at work. I didn't read this because I didn't want to get any angrier about the stupid shit it does. I could care less about this one when my country is teetering on bankruptcy. Come on guys, you can call this one in.

[R_aVe_N]

You would think that congress would have more important things to do.... You know like FIXING THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT! Leave this little shit to other people you ass clowns.

[Der_Kommandant]

Answer the congress with a nuke

[The_Nameless_One]

How come they did not get involved when the 360 had outages and security breaches? Ohh that's right, Sony (as apposed to a different company) hasn't been dumping millions of dollars every year in order to buy their way into the US government.

[Ryu7505]

I hope the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security can capture who started this crisis! Who ever did it, should be behind bars for a very long time!

[tigertron]

It was Annonymous that were behind the attack. They lied.

See the US PS blog.

"We discovered that the intruders had planted a file on one of our Sony Online Entertainment servers named “Anonymous” with the words “We are Legion.”"