Sony's PlayStation Network hit by DDoS attack

No evidence of personal information being accessed or any intrusion into the network, claims Sony

Sony's PlayStation Network (PSN) was brought to a halt on Sunday after being hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.

Sony confirmed that the networks were taken offline due to a DDoS attack, but added that it had seen no evidence of any intrusion into the network and no evidence of any unauthorised access to users' personal information.

"Although this has impacted your ability to access our network and enjoy our services, no personal information has been accessed," the Japanese company said in a statement.

DDoS attacks have become more common over the past few years. A research study from BT revealed that the attacks have hit 41 per cent of organisations in the past year, with more than three-quarters of those targeted twice or more within the same time period.

Another study, from analytics company Neustar, found that one-third of UK companies estimate losses of more than £240,000 per day as a result of DDoS attacks.

Sony is yet to discover who the perpetrator of the attack is, although inevitably several individuals on social media have claimed responsibility.

But John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, suggested that media outlets should not confuse those responsible for the DDoS attacks with those merely claiming to be involved for their own ends.

One account, which claims to be part of the Anonymous hacker faction, has claimed that it is responsible for the hack. It suggests that it did it in order to highlight weaknesses in the network.

This isn't the first time that Sony's PlayStation video-gaming network has been hacked. In April 2011, hackers exposed personal details of millions of customers including names, email addresses, home addresses and dates of birth. It has since been fined £250,000 by the ICO.