Those of us here in North America, and other regions, have been enjoying the tiered return of most PSN services for a little while now. Over in Japan, however, the government held things up by demanding that Sony show them security plans for avoiding future such cyber attacks. The publisher has seemingly satisfied the government however, because they have announced plans for “a phased restoration of PlayStation Network and Qriocity Services in Japan and Asian countries and regions including Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand 1 on May 28.”
Sony says that they have made “considerable enhancements to the data security” for the PSN in the region. Executive Deputy Director Kaz Hirai apologized to Asian consumers for the inconveniences stemming from the network being hacked. He also said that they “are taking aggressive action including increasing security measures and working with respective authorities to address the concerns that were raised by this incident”. Some of the moves they are making include improved encryption and firewalls, updating security technology and updating software monitoring.
The initial reintroduction of the PSN will include the return of the following features:
- Sign-in for PlayStation®Network and Qriocity services, including the resetting of passwords
- Restoration of online game-play across PS3 and PSP
- ‘Friends’ category on PS3, including Friends List, Chat Functionality, Trophy Comparison, etc
- PlayStation Home
Continuing, Sony detailed its new plans for protecting network users. The firm says that there is “no evidence” that credit card data was illegally acquired by third parties, but that they are taking preventative steps nonetheless. They are still investigating the extent to which customer information was compromised and will continue to do so until they get to the bottom of this thing. Additionally, a hotline is being set up for customers to call in regarding concerns over this matter. They will also be taking on the burden of expenses resulting from customers acquiring replacement credit cards.
Finally, gamers in that part of the world be getting access to their own version of the “Welcome Back” program. This includes 30 free days of PSN Plus membership and the user’s choice of a variety of free downloads — these include games and other content.
[Source: Sony]
[Image courtesy of Primal Reviews.]
