Sony to restore PSN in Asia

Sony is to begin restoring its PlayStation videogame network in Asia tomorrow, more than a month after a massive security breach…

Sony is to begin restoring its PlayStation videogame network in Asia tomorrow, more than a month after a massive security breach that leaked details on tens of millions of users caused the service to be temporarily suspended.

The company, which has already begun restoring services in other parts of the world, said it would also offer customers in Asia a new identity protection service.

Sony said the previous day it was keeping to its target of restoring all PlayStation network services by the end of May, with any delay beyond that not likely to be more than a few days.

The electronics firm uncovered a breach in its PlayStation Network (PSN) on April 19th, resulting in a temporary shutdown of the service that has left users unable to download games or play online over the network.

Sony's music and video streaming service, Qriocity, was also affected.

Sony said the breach by an "illegal and unauthorised person", which occurred between April 17th and 19th, may have allowed the theft of names, addresses, email addresses, birth dates, user names, passwords, logins, security questions and possibly credit card data.

PSN and Qriocity entertainment services went back online in the US and other regions excluding Asia on May 15th.

Additional reporting: Reuters

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien

Ciara O'Brien is an Irish Times business and technology journalist