PlayStation Network hit by DDoS attacks, top exec in flight bomb scare

Gaming giant in the thick of online activist action once again

Sony has admitted that its PlayStation Network service was hit by a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks over the weekend.

A top executive at the company also had his flight diverted when a bomb threat was made after he wrote on Twitter about efforts to fight the DDoS attack before boarding a flight. The incidents have echoes of similar attacks that blighted Sony in 2011 when it lost customer data, which led to a £250,000 fine from the Information Commissioner's Office.

The attack started at some point on 24 August when the president of Sony Online Entertainment John Smedley wrote on Twitter that the attack was occurring, before announcing that he was boarding a plane.

This plane was then diverted due to security reasons, after a bomb threat was made on Twitter by the same accounts as those claiming responsibility for the DDoS attacks. However it is not clear who is behind the attacks, as several Twitter users with different affiliations have claimed responsibility.

Sony acknowledged that the DDoS attack had occurred but said no user data was compromised.

"The PlayStation Network and Sony Entertainment Network are back online and people can now enjoy the services on their PlayStation devices," the company said on Sunday.

"The networks were taken offline due to a DDoS attack. We have seen no evidence of any intrusion to the network and no evidence of any unauthorised access to users' personal information."

Other gaming providers were also affected, with Microsoft's Xbox service and Activision Blizzard's gaming service Battle.net also attacked.