Sony's Playstation Network is Back Online

Sony's Playstation Network has been unavailable since the companies security issues were first identified over a month ago. Last month, PlayStation.com website was supposedly attacked by the distributed hacking group Anonymous, which is well known for trying to take down various web sites for their involvement in the Wikileaks scandal. Computer World reports indicate that Anonymous was angry at Sony after sueing two PlayStation 3 owners for releasing code that allows third-party software and operating systems to run on the console.
Unfortunately, this incident has turned into a severe black eye for Sony. The online gaming communities moans transpired to roars after going without the popular online Play Station's Network (PSN) for the past month. If the roars could get louder they did after it was found that 77 million people, including some 10 million credit card numbers, were compromised during the "External Intrusion." Furthermore, Sony Inc. now faces potential law suits galore and the official inquiries to the inner workings of the companies security have just begun.

Arik Hesseldahl reports, "While Sony hasn’t been specific about the new security measures put in place, it described them as “considerable enhancements” and included the addition of “advanced security technologies,” additional monitoring of software, and increased level of encryption of add additional firewalls. Sony says it has also installed what it calls an “early warning system” that will detect unusual patterns of activity that might indicate a new attack is underway.

On May 14th, Kazuo Hirai announced the phased restoration of PSN starting with the America's and moving to Eurpoe, Asia, and so on. The video features Hirai apologizing for the security intrusion and detailing Sony's new security precautions designed to protect customers from future attacks. Sony may be back online but the consequences of the events have yet to fully transpire. Time will tell........