The Great PlayStation Network Hack of 2011: A Complete History
Beginning in April of 2011, the PlayStation brand experienced what is undoubtedly its darkest hour. For more than three long, drawn-out weeks, Sony's PlayStation Network was offline, recovering from a catastrophic hack that exposed a staggering 77 million consumers' personal information, credit card details, addresses, and more. It's almost hard to believe it happened at all. But it did. Here's how it all played out.
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The following videos were used, in part, in the creation of this episode of Side Quest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do8pwvf-ZS8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmPpRO0PjI8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5xV90qnQrI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ElukSZIhys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aXFNtEm7Hc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVf4QwfA2hk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbF06OxA69Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWmJ0RH_Feo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNZG4YO8ugo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWALEOfgkuI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIaLGePgsFU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb3nob-oCiI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0FJ5Jimj2w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftcUZziP2ao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJVW0cgBdmM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzYIFEjuEc4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B8PK-eg2QY
The following is a partial list of sources used in the writing of this episode of Side Quest (YouTube's character limit stops us from sharing all 50+ sources, though we've done our best to represent all outlets):
https://www.sie.com/content/dam/corporate/en/corporate/release/pdf/060509ae.pdf
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/28548/20150124/psn-outage-2011-sony-finally-paying-settlements.htm
https://qz.com/1480809/the-biggest-data-breaches-of-all-time-ranked/
http://fortune.com/2014/12/24/why-sony-didnt-learn-from-its-2011-hack/
https://money.cnn.com/2000/10/24/bizbuzz/sony/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/08/15/sony_confirms_ps2_online_plans/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/05/31/can_a_gpl_playstation2_linux/
https://www.cnet.com/news/why-the-wii-and-xbox-are-killing-sonys-ps3/
https://www.geekwire.com/2013/npd-xbox-30-consecutive-months/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/27/AR2008122700095.html
https://kotaku.com/ps3-error-8001050f-the-nightmare-may-be-over-updated-5483187
https://www.technologizer.com/2010/03/01/the-psn-problem-or-how-sony-got-scooped-by-its-own-customers/
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Horizons/2011/0421/PlayStation-network-down-after-launch-of-several-new-games
https://www.mercurynews.com/2011/04/22/psn-outage-leaves-ps3-users-offline/
https://www.pcworld.com/article/225943/playstation_network_down_for_a_day_or_two.html
https://ps3movies.ign.com/ps3/document/article/114/1143598/2-1.pdf
https://www.ign.com/articles/2011/04/11/sony-hotz-settle-ps3-hacker-case
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/apr/27/playstation-network-hack-sony
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-26-sony-admitted-the-great-psn-hack-five-years-ago-today
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2508444/sony-cuts-off-sony-online-entertainment-service-after-hack.html
https://www.techtimes.com/articles/238409/20190206/sony-ps4-inches-past-nintendo-switch-in-sales-numbers.htm
https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2011/05/23/sony-pegs-psn-attack-costs-at-170-million/#49cd1d5244ca
https://www.zdnet.com/article/sony-settles-psn-hack-lawsuit-for-15-million/
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-sony-breach-lawsuit/sony-laid-off-employees-before-data-breach-lawsuit-idUKTRE75N03520110624