Will the PSN Survive? 0

The recent attacks on the Playstation Network would raise the eyebrows of even the most harderened IT veteran. Over one hundred million accounts had their details accessed and taken, and Sony were so slow to react to the sudden invasion of their servers that far more data was lost than could have been had they been more sensible when it came to their online security setup.

However, now Sony are out the other side off the downtime they enforced to solve their security issues, the hacking event has forever tarnished what was otherwise a relatively clean record on the part of the games giant. Some traded in their PS3s, and others had to use identity theft services when their card details were compromised, though Sony contends that this number never rose above 40,000

It’s a shocking event to bear witness too, whether you are a PSN account holder or someone who prefers onlinepoker to Call of Duty. The most surprising result is that the same hacking group, Lulzsec, are still hitting games developers around the world constantly, only avoiding the British National Health Service, to whom they simply advised on the holes in their online security system.

Kaz Hirai, head of Sony’s games division, has apologised, and Sony have offered Welcome Back packages to the PSN members affected by the downtime and the hack, but will it be enough? We’d argue that it might be, depending on how things go over the next five years. That’s a long time, but it’ll take them four times as long to fully restore the public’s faith.

No network is completely secure, this is true; but Sony’s lack of decent security measures proved to be its downfall. We can only hope it survives, for the sake of those who love what Sony have done with the PS3. With the PS Vita (sequel to the PSP and PSP Go!) on the way, the PSN is now just as important as ever. Time will tell.