In response to the data breaches announced last month and early this month, Sony shutdown the PSN, Qriocity music services, and the SOE site to investigate the breach and make security enhancements.
The service restoration is being phased in by region, with the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Middle East coming online first. Phased restoration in Japan and other Asian countries and regions will be announced later. The company expects to have the services fully restored by the end of May.
For PSN and Qriocity the first phase includes: sign-in for PSN and Qriocity services, including the resetting of passwords; restoration of online game-play across PS3 and PSP; playback rental video content of PSN video delivery service on PS3, PSP and MediaGo; Music Unlimited offered by Qriocity, for current subscribers, on PS3 and PC; access to third party services such as Netflix, Hulu, Vudu and MLB.tv; friends category on PS3, including Friends List, Chat Functionality, Trophy Comparison, etc.; and PlayStation Home.
For SOE, the first phase includes the return of nearly all of SOE’s portfolio of online games and the reinstatement of its game forums and websites. To improve security, SOE is requiring all users to reset their passwords.
The restoration of PSN, Qriocity, and SOE services includes additional security measures, including updating and adding security technologies; additional software monitoring and penetration and vulnerability testing; increased levels of encryption and additional firewalls; and an early-warning system for unusual activity patterns that could signal an attempt to compromise the network, Sony said.
In addition, Fumiaki Sakai, president of Sony Global Solutions, has been appointed acting chief information security officer (CSIO) of Sony Network Entertainment International (SNEI). Sakai will lead the recruiting effort in finding a new and permanent CISO for SNEI, the company said.
Sony is not allowed to restart its online game services in Japan until it provides further information on what measures it has taken since the earlier hacking incidents, according to Dow Jones Newswires.