Sony begin rebooting of Playstation Network

Sony have been working on bringing back the PlayStation Network, and yesterday they started a limited restoration, with further restoration in the plans for today.

Sony have said they would begin bringing their PlayStation Network back online in the Middle East, New Zealand, Australia, Europe and America regions. The network will be limited initially, with other sections reopening as soon as possible.

Some customers should already have access to part of the network and more will be added today. The overall goal is to get it completely back and running by the end of this month.

Japan and many Asian locations will have to wait longer for the reboot to come into play and they aren't even sure when customers in these regions will regain access, but it seems to restore full service in the region by the end of the month, just like other parts of the world.

Sony are in talks with the Japanese industry ministry as they are asking for more detailed information on how Sony's online service works and what security measures Sony are taking to help prevent this happening again. Japan doesn't have a local protection system such as Debrix which covers misuse of credit cards and theft. Sony are working with the ministry to figure out the best way to protect the Japanese audience.

Kazuo Hirai, head of Sony's game division said “We know even the most loyal customers have been frustrated by this process and are anxious to use their Sony products and services again. We are taking aggressive action at all levels to address the concerns that were raised by this incident, and are making consumer data protection a full-time, company wide commitment.”

You can follow Sony's problems this month by using this search engine term on Kitguru, but the short version is that they were hacked, losing millions of customer account details, such as email addresses, passwords, addresses and even credit card details. Sony shut down the services to investigate the attack, but they failed to inform customers until a week after the event transpired, angering a huge portion of their user base in the process.

Lawsuits are already in the making, and inquiries have been fielded from Congress over their handling of the problem. YouGov held a survey and it showed that the Sony brand name has taken a pounding and Kitguru recently spoke to a UK retail outlet who said that the return of Playstation 3 consoles has risen by over 300%.

Sony have been scrambling to repair their reputation, by offering customers free identity theft coverage services for up to a year, including a $1 million insurance policy. They are also offering customers freebies when the online facilities are back online and as a precaution all users will have to reset their passwords when they first log in.

Kitguru says: Are you a Sony PS3 customer? Are you more confident now in the company?

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