Shoot-em-up: Sony Online Entertainment hit by 'large scale DDoS attack'

Games disrupted as firm struggles to control network

Sony is suffering a major Distributed Denial-of-Service attack on its network, the company's Online Entertainment boss confirmed today.

It comes after The Register reported gripes about service wobbles on the PlayStation Network (PSN) earlier on Sunday.

SOE's chief John Smedley coughed to being DDoSed in a series of tweets, hours after complaints surfaced about Sony from weekend gamers who were failing to access the PSN.

He also said his American Airlines flight 362 had been diverted "for security reasons" – just after miscreants hinted to officials that explosives were onboard.

On the distributed denial-of-service assaults, Smedley told Twitter:

We are under attack by a large scale ddos. Being dealt with but it will impact games until its handled.

— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014

It's almost under control now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014

Services will be gradually restored. For some it's up now. For others the route they take may be flooded so they can't log in yet.

— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014

I'm only speaking about SOE. Not sure on PSN

— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014

Some people can log in. Some can't. Purely route related.

— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014

In the case of a ddos with the help of our ISPs we can filter out the ddos. But it's filtered close to our network.

— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014

The problem is upstream of our network we have no control. So they are flooding the routes to us too. That's how it works.

— John Smedley (@j_smedley) August 24, 2014

Smedley provided a link to a map showing where the DDoS attack had hit. He then tweeted that he would be out of contact on a domestic flight for three hours.

PlayStation admitted there were problems on its service, but did not mention a DDoS attack in a tweet it posted within the last hour.

"Network update: our engineers are aware of the issues and are working to resolve them. We'll keep you posted - sorry for the inconvenience," it said. ®