'Extreme Piracy,' Custom Firmware Likely Cause Of PlayStation Network Outage

With Sony's PlayStation Network outage now its sixth day, new theories have attempted to answer the questions that Sony has so far avoided.

The company has not been particularly forthcoming about the causes for the outage. But a Reddit user claiming to the moderator of PlayStation download PSX-Scene, claims to have an answer.

According to the user, who goes by the name of Chese420, Sony's decision to shut down PlayStation Network came as a result of the release of Rebug, a custom Playstation firmware. By altering some of the functionality of Rebug, hackers were able to gain access to the PlayStation Network via special development features. This in turn, allowed them to enter fake credit card information (none of which was authenticated) and, in turn, download large of amounts of Playstation content for free.

Sony is now rebuilding all of its PSN servers to be more secure and (hopefully) make sure the [custom firmware] users cannot get online anymore, the user said.

The Reddit user, however, was quick to note that this was only a hypothesis. But considering Sony's silence, such things are all PlayStation Network users have to go on. Sony's PlayStation and Qriocity network went down overnight on Wednesday.

Sony had said previously that an outside agency, such as a hacker or group of hackers, might be responsible for the problems that caused them to shut down the network. Initially, there were rumors that the hacker collective Anonymous might be behind the outage, but the group said explicitly that it wasn't them. Sony also said if there was an attack it might have compromised credit card information.