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Sony Resuming PlayStation Network, Qriocity Services
By Martyn Williams, IDG News May 15, 2011 8:10 am
Sony will begin a phased resumption of its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services on Sunday, more than three weeks after a cyber attackthat resulted in the loss of personal information on more than 100 million customers.
The two services will initially be available for users in North America (where the service could resume late Saturday), Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. Service in Japan and Asia will return at a later time yet to be announced.
First services to return will be online gaming, playback of already rented video, "Music Unlimited" online audio streaming, access to third-party services like Netflix and Hulu, PlayStation Home and friends features such as chat. Full service is expected to resume by the end of May.
Users Must Change Passwords
PlayStation users will be prompted to download a software update when they first connect to the network. The version 3.61 update will ask users to change their password. Once changed, users will be able to sign in to their accounts.
The login password for each account was among the data stolen when an unknown hacker or hackersattacked Sony's San Diego data center on April 19. Other information leaked included the names and addresses for registered PlayStation Network and Qriocity users, along with their birth dates, e-mail addresses and other personal information.
Later, Sony discovered a similar attack on its Sony Online Entertainment network, which serves PC users. That service will also resume worldwide on Sunday.
The entire attack netted personal information on more than 100 million users, making it one of the largest ever known leaks of consumer data.
Three Weeks to Rebuild
Sony has spent much of the past three weeks analyzing the hack and rebuilding its network to better guard against future attacks.
The upgrades have brought "considerable enhancements to the data security, including updating and adding advanced security technologies, additional software monitoring and penetration and vulnerability testing, and increased levels of encryption and additional firewalls," Sony said in a statement. It has also added software to provide an early warning of system activity that could indicate an attack has taken place.
Throughout the period the PlayStation Network has remained offline,depriving console owners of the ability to play online.
"I can't thank you enough for your patience and support during this time," said Kaz Hirai, executive deputy president of Sony and head of its gaming division, in a statement. "We know even the most loyal customers have been frustrated by this process and are anxious to use their Sony products and services again. We are taking aggressive action at all levels to address the concerns that were raised by this incident, and are making consumer data protection a full-time, company wide commitment."
2.
Is the Cellphone Killing the Honeybee?
Pity the poor honeybee. Since 2003, bee colonies around the globe have declining at an alarming rate. And since bees play a vital role in agricultural production, that's bad news for us humans. Scientists suspect many factors may be responsible, including pesticides, viruses, the varroa mite, genetically modified crops, and even exceptionally cold winters. Now we can add cellphones to the list of possible culprits.
A study by Swiss researcher Daniel Favre shows that mobile phone-generated electromagnetic fields may contribute to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a condition that causes worker bees to desert the hive. In most cases, the queen bee is left with eggs, immature bees, and a lot of honey. The colony survives for a short time, but soon dies out without its workers.
"Recent efforts have been made to study another potential cause responsible for bee losses: manmade electromagnetic fields," Favre writes. And while the results obtained to date have been "highly controversial," they suggest a connection between the growing use of cellphones and a declining bee population.
Earlier studies have shown that cordless telephones placed at the bottom of beehives altered the behavior of honeybees that returned to the hive after foraging. However, other reports have failed to find a connection between mobile phones and colony collapse.
The Latest Buzz
Favre's 2009 study exposed honeybees to active cellphone radiation. "The goal of these experiments was to identify potential effects of mobile phone communications on honeybee behavior," he writes.
The researcher recorded sounds produced by bees in five healthy hives in two Switzerland locations between February and June 2009. The study recorded the bees' sounds with active mobile phones in the hive. Two mobile handsets (900MHz GSM) were chosen at random.
The bees were also recorded during their normal activities, both with and without inactive mobile phones.
With the active devices, the first handset was triggered to call the second phone in the hive. A connection was made after 5 to 10 seconds of ringing.
Sound analyst shows the bees weren't disturbed by inactive or standby mobile phones. However, active cellphones confused the bees, creating "worker piping," or a signal to leave the hive.
The findings suggest that "the behavior of the bees remained perturbed for up to 12 hours after the end of the prolonged mobile phone communication," Favre writes. "This observation means that honeybees are sensitive to pulsed electromagnetic fields generated by the mobile telephones."
More Study Needed
In real life, of course, you won't find mobile phones in beehives. And further studies are needed--those that place cellphones at greater distances from the bees--to study the connection between odd honeybee behavior and mobile phone-generated electromagnetic fields.
Favre points to a recent experiment suggesting that cellphones and cellphone towers located near beehives hamper honeybee navigation.
"In one experiment, it was found that when a mobile phone was kept near a beehive it resulted in a collapse of the colony in 5 to 10 days, with the worker bees failing to return home, leaving the hives with just queens, eggs, and hive-bound immature bees," he writes.
3. SITTING ALL DAY IS KILLING YOU
4.
Remember your exam is in 2 weeks time and most of the revision you need to do is using the quizzes that you have had all semester and reviewing the information in
You are welcome to use some class time to do some revision.
5.
HTML PUZZLES
Continue working on these. Depending on how they are progressing I think we will do a peer review on Friday as it appears many people are close to finishing. Remember to consult the rubric in order to maximise your marks.
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