With Full PlayStation Network Restoration, Has Sony’s Nightmare Finally Ended?

Has the nightmare finally ended for the Sony PlayStation Network? It has been more than five weeks since the service was brought down in a hack that crippled gameplay and potentially exposed the personal data of 70 million users. In a press release, Sony announced that it is bringing full functionality back to PSN and music service Qriocity.

This is the second, and hopefully final, phase of bringing the PlayStation Network back online. The first, which was rolled out May 15, restored partial services including gameplay, account management and chat. The full restoration will bring full functionality back to the PlayStation Store, in-game commerce, and the ability to redeem vouchers. Is this the end of the saga that could be the most significant network hack ever?

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If you are not an avid PlayStation Network user and enjoy some geeky online espionage with shadowy figures, false starts, a giant corporation getting repeatedly smacked in the face and details of security exploits, the past month and a half have been great drama. The PlayStation Network Blog, normally a place for tips and cheats and general gamer news, has become a case-study of a scrambling corporation. It took Sony a while to fess up to how severe the PSN hack was, but to its credit, the company has been giving nearly daily updates for the better part of the last month.

Our enterprise editor, David Strom, took a look last week at Sony’s actions surrounding the hack and gave tips on how corporate IT departments should handle breaches and breakdowns. The takeaway: Be proactive, be honest and work like hell to get the service up and running as securely as possible.

First, apologize early and get out in front of any breach. Reveal what was revealed, make amends, and offer something free to compensate the victims. Don’t do a Steve Jobs and clam up. Whatever you do, do it within 24 hours of the event, and sooner if you can. While your corporate legal team will want to wait, convince them that waiting has its own costs and drawbacks. It took Sony three weeks to have this post on its own blog to explain anything.

Sony will offer users a “welcome back” package of services and premium content. If you are a PSN gamer, let us know in the comments what the apology package looks like and if you think Sony has done enough to win back your favor.

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