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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEScan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Sony said a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack took PlayStation Network (PSN) and Sony Entertainment Network offline on August 24, 2014. Sony later said the networks were back online and that it had seen no evidence of unauthorized access to users’ personal information. This outage was separate from the destructive Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) intrusion disclosed in late November 2014; the FBI’s later attribution of that intrusion to North Korea concerned SPE, not PSN.
What happened to PlayStation Network?
In an August 24, 2014 update, Sony said PSN and Sony Entertainment Network had been taken offline because of a distributed denial-of-service attack. Sony described the networks as overwhelmed by “artificially high traffic” and later reported that service had been restored.
A DDoS attack targets availability: a service receives so much traffic that it cannot respond normally to users trying to access it. In a contemporary explainer, TIME described legitimate and malicious requests competing for service capacity. Sony’s post did not give a traffic volume or technical details about the attack.
When did the outage happen, and how long did it last?
The disruption began early on August 24, according to TIME’s contemporary account. TIME reported that access had returned by the following morning, although its writer was still encountering problems. Sony’s update confirmed restoration but did not specify an exact outage duration, so the available accounts do not establish a precise number of hours.
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Did the attack expose PSN users’ personal information?
Sony said: “We have seen no evidence of any intrusion to the network and no evidence of any unauthorised access to users’ personal information.” That was Sony’s account of what it had observed when it published its August 24 update. It is not an independent verification or a broader guarantee about data security.
Who was responsible for the PSN DDoS?
Responsibility was disputed in contemporaneous coverage. TIME reported claims involving Lizard Squad and a person associated with Anonymous, but those claims do not establish who carried out the attack. The sources cited here do not resolve attribution, so neither group should be treated as confirmed responsible.
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How was this different from the Sony Pictures hack?
The incidents involved different Sony services, occurred months apart, and had different reported effects. The FBI’s December 19 statement about North Korea addressed the Sony Pictures Entertainment intrusion—not the August PSN DDoS.
| Incident | Date and target | Reported effect | Attribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| PSN DDoS | August 24, 2014; PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network | Service availability was disrupted; Sony later said the networks were back online and reported no evidence of unauthorized access to user information. | Not established in the cited contemporary accounts; responsibility was disputed. |
| Sony Pictures Entertainment intrusion | Disclosed in late November 2014; Sony Pictures Entertainment | The later DOJ/FBI statement described destructive malware, system disruption, and theft of proprietary and employee information. | The FBI stated on December 19, 2014, that it had determined North Korea was responsible, citing malware, infrastructure, and similarity evidence. |
The FBI’s conclusion and supporting evidence apply to the SPE incident. They do not identify the people behind the PSN DDoS or show that the August outage caused, enabled, or was part of the later intrusion.
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