Sony restores PlayStation network service worldwide

Sony has announced that it will restore its PlayStation Network in Japan, marking the full global availability of the service which was shutdown for 11 weeks after a huge security breach in April.

Some 77 million user accounts were compromised by hackers who targeted Sony for taking legal action against two hackers who released the source code for its PlayStation software.

The action forced the network offline as the company struggled to cope with the effect of the hacks. Sony Online Entertainment PC networks were breached on 2 May which saw details on an additional 25 million users stolen.

Sony posted a net loss of $3.1bn for the financial year after having to write off billions in tax credits and deal with the after-effects of the attacks on its network and the earthquake in Japan.

But the company is clearly confident that it has the situation under control and said that all services will return from 6 July. Sony said that it had implemented additional security measures since the attacks on its San Diego datacentre.

The Sony hacks were the first in a wave of attacks by the LulzSec group on major corporations such as Citibank and government institutions such as the CIA and the Brazilian government.

The group announced last week that it was disbanding after 50 days of attacks as the authorities closed in, most notably with the arrest of a 19 year-old from Essex. Copycat groups are expected to form in its wake.