Sony will be conducting a phased resumption of its popular PlayStation Network and Qriocity online music and video services in the wake of what the company described as a "very sophisticated" intrusion. The company doesn't know yet how many accounts were compromised, though it could potentially include all 77 million accounts. 10 million accounts out of this have credit card numbers, though Sony emphasized that there has been no evidence that they too were stolen. In addition, eWeek reports that credit card information is protected and that "the security code had not been stored."

What is known so far is that an attack was launched from a server behind two firewalls. As reported by Computerworld, "The initial attack was disguised as a purchase, so wasn't flagged by network security systems. It exploited a known vulnerability in the application server to plant software that was used to access the database server that sat behind the third firewall." The popular service was quickly shuttered to prevent additional damage once an intrusion was detected by Sony, and specialists were hired to investigate the security breach.

It is now evident is that Sony did not have a chief information security officer, which the company pledged to rectify. Apologizing for the downtime, Sony also says that it will add automated software monitoring systems in order to spot similar attacks in future. In addition, Sony says it will offer a "Welcome Back" package with complimentary downloads and 30 days of free service.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Computerworld
- check out this article at eWeek  

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