Sony Begins PlayStation Restoration

As part of the restoration, Sony required customers to reset their passwords by either using the same PlayStation 3 device they originally used to register or through validated e-mail. But on Sunday, in a blog, Sony reported it was being overwhelmed:

"We're currently experiencing an extremely heavy load of password resets, and so we recently had to turn off services for approximately 30 minutes to clear the queue. As such, a large number of people are attempting to change their passwords at the same time, it's taking longer than expected for all those e-mails to clear all of the ISPs (information service providers)."

Kazuo Hirai, a top Sony executive, announced Saturday in a video that the restoration of services was under way. In April, a sophisticated hack exposed the personal information of at least 77 million customers (see Sony Breach Ignites Phishing Fears).

"I wish we could have restored faster, but these attackers were serious and sophisticated and it simply took time to install and test the new security measures across our entire system," Hirai said. "We felt that we owed it to you to fully verify the security of the networks before restoring our services."

Hirai said Sony is taking aggressive action to beef up its security following an intensive investigation by top security experts. He said Sony is applying advanced security technology, increasing levels of encryption, adding firewalls and implementing early warning systems to detect attacks on network.

Sony announced two weeks ago it would name its first chief information security officer as a way to strengthen IT security (see Breach Gets Sony to Create CISO Post).

"I wish I could tell you that technology is available to completely protect any company against cyberattack," Hirai said, "but unfortunately, the threat of cybercrime, and data theft will continue to plague networks, companies, government agencies, and consumers around the world for some time to come."