Sweet so by tomorrow or the weekend for sure. :D my body is ready

It better be up tomorrow... I need me some Killzone 3. My friend said it was back up and he was playing Black Ops. I called his BS out.

Not that we could expect anything different anyway, but even with more reasons, with PSN down most of the time, Sony's best seller system in Japan during Golden Week will be PSP. What we still don't know is whether PS3 will take a significant hit or not, maybe with people actually going to brick and mortar shops for their special offers, and even when buying systems online, doing it mostly from 3rd party sites, the damage on HW sales and SW on physical support too could be limited, while the one on downloadable content purchase will be without any doubt huge.

You know, it'd probably help if you updated all the news articles in the OP at the very least.

Speaking of which.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/05/us-sony-insurance-idUSTRE74472120110505

Sony to attempt to get money from insurers... but Data experts think it will be hard since Sony will likely be accused of negligence by the insurerers.

"Some experts said Sony faces an uphill battle to get its insurers to pay for its damages from the cyber breach.

They may try to blame Sony for negligence for failing to properly secure its data centers, said Dan Zeiler, a director of security and compliance for American Internet Services, a data center services provider.

Zeiler, who helps manage data centers and server farms for clients in San Diego such as Intuit Inc and Rio Tinto, said he was surprised by the lack of sophistication in the way Sony protected its network.

Sony said on Wednesday that it was adding "automated software monitoring and configuration management" to help defend itself against new attacks. Zeiler said Sony should have already been using that type of service."

In the latest turn of events involving the theft of personal data for millions of PlayStation Network users, Sony has announced that it is partnering with Debix to offer 12 months of identity theft protection free of charge. Debix's "AllClear ID" protection will be made available to PSN and Qriocity account holders in the US, with the console maker "working to make similar programs available in other countries/territories where applicable."

Sony says that users should be receiving offer emails "over the next few days" containing a promotional code for Debix's service, after which they'll have until June 18 to sign up. It's not stated whether this offer extends to users who create PSN accounts once the service goes back online, or only to those who had accounts before the outage, but we're following up with Sony for clarification.

Under the AllClear ID plan, users will be alerted if their private data turns up on criminal websites or during law enforcement raids, have "priority access to licensed private investigators and identity restoration specialists" and will receive up to $1 million in compensation if their stolen data is used fraudulently within 12 months of sign-up.

We've included the full rundown on what the service will offer after the break.

Features of the AllClear ID service being offered will include:

Cyber monitoring and surveillance of the Internet to detect exposure of an AllClear ID Plus customer's personal information, including monitoring of criminal web sites and data recovered by law enforcement. If his/her personal information is found, the customer will be alerted by phone and/or email and will be provided advice and support regarding protective steps to take. The customer will also receive monthly identity status reports. Debix works with an alliance of cyber-crime experts from the government, academia and industry to provide these services.

Priority access to licensed private investigators and identity restoration specialists. If an AllClear ID Plus customer receives an alert, or otherwise suspects that he/she may be the victim of identity theft, the customer can speak directly, on a priority basis, with an on-staff licensed private investigator, who will conduct a comprehensive inquiry. In the case of an identity theft, the customer can work with an identity restoration specialist to contact creditors and others, and take necessary steps to restore the customer's identity.

A $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user to provide additional protection in the event that an AllClear ID Plus customer becomes a victim of identity theft. This insurance would provide financial relief of up to $1 million for covered identity restoration costs, legal defense expenses, and lost wages that occur within 12 months after the stolen identity event.

Although it may have seemed somewhat easier to hack sony this time, I really believe that sony was bound to get hacked even if that weak link had been closed. Would've probably just taken a little longer. As you should know, even up-to-date antivirus doesn't protect from all viruses.

This "expert's" article on kotaku pretty much aligns with my viewpoint:

http://kotaku.com/#!5797602/dont-blame-sony-you-cant-trust-any-networks

Nice

Not really.  That's what one line of it says... but when you read the context you see it's totally different statement. 

Some more good news

via psblog

"As you will have read in the letter from Sir Howard Stringer, that we posted a few hours ago, in the US we are offering all PSN users one year’s free access to an identity protection scheme. I can assure you that here in the SCEE region, we are working incredibly hard to offer you something very similar. As is often the case here, with so many countries in our region, this is a very complicated thing to achieve, but we are close."

I wonder how seriously they took network security and data chances of getting stolen.....god they make millions to be intruded just like that.