Sony CEO Howard Stringer has published a personal message concerning the notorious PlayStation Network hack attack. He mostly reiterates what Sony has been saying for the past two weeks, but he did go a little bit further, bringing recent natural disasters into the mix.
"As a company we -- and I -- apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack," he wrote. "Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible.
"... In the last few months, Sony has faced a terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But now we are facing a very man-made event -- a criminal attack on us -- and on you -- and we are working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies around the world to apprehend those responsible."
First the tsunami, then the PSN goes gown. Next week, Kaz Hirai stubs his toe. The terror in Tokyo never ends.
[Update: Some people are offended that I didn't think Stringer's comments were wise. I'm sorry. I live in the South, which was recently hit by a major tornado. I'm working with the FBI to make sure a post like this never happens again.]
Read the full statement below.
Dear Friends,
I know this has been a frustrating time for all of you.
Let me assure you that the resources of this company have been focused on investigating the entire nature and impact of the cyber-attack we’ve all experienced and on fixing it. We are absolutely dedicated to restoring full and safe service as soon as possible and rewarding you for your patience. We will settle for nothing less.
To date, there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused, and we continue to monitor the situation closely. We are also moving ahead with plans to help protect our customers from identity theft around the world. A program for U.S. PlayStation Network and Qriocity customers that includes a $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user was launched earlier today and announcements for other regions will be coming soon.
As we have announced, we will be offering a “Welcome Back” package to our customers once our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are up and running. This will include, among other benefits, a month of free PlayStation Plus membership for all PSN customers, as well as an extension of subscriptions for PlayStation Plus and Music Unlimited customers to make up for time lost.
As a company we — and I — apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack. Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible.
I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It’s a fair question. As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had — or had not — been taken.
As a result of what we discovered we notified you of the breach. Our investigation is ongoing, and we are upgrading our security so that if attacks like this happen again, our defenses will be even stronger.
In the last few months, Sony has faced a terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. But now we are facing a very man-made event – a criminal attack on us — and on you — and we are working with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies around the world to apprehend those responsible.
In the coming days, we will restore service to the networks and welcome you back to the fun. I wanted to personally reach out and let you know that we are committed to serving you to the very best of our ability, protecting your information better than ever, and getting you back to what you signed up for – all the games and great entertainment experiences that you expect from Sony.
With best regards,
Howard Stringer
Contest:
10:30 PM on 05.05.2011 | 
Owch.
PSN up faster please Mr. Stringer.
So my issue now is, "That one guy on Destructoid just tried to compare the tsunami to a hacker attack, via a quote that did no such thing."
Any editor reading this should modify/delete this post. There is no journalistic integrity at stake. Jim just fucked up.
Gotta have those hits.
I can see that being considered "tacky" by survivors of the horrific tragedies in to befall Japan recently.
I mean, if you just survived the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, Sony's PSN outage probably seems like a silly concern.
(making fun of his voice joke)
One happened.
Then the other.
Sometimes Jim, I just don't know...
Jim didn't fuck up. Jim gets paid to be a flamebaiter / massive troll. He is the Fox News Anchor of Destructoids normally good work.
What, like leaving txt files on their server? Something doesn't compute here.
Ooooh darn, he changed the headline.
Though then he said Sony informed customers of the breach on their accounts, but failed to mention that it happened a week before they owned up to that fact and that, to me, is unacceptable. That and that they failed to update software related to PSN, which made the network even more vulnerable to hackers, which is also unacceptable.
Personally, I'm amazed people are even anticipating returning to PSN after such a display of corporate incompetence and negligence of the consumer. Not that I'm cheering for the hackers, I do hope they get caught and nailed to the wall.
And I'm not saying I'm done with Sony now and forever, but I think I can live without them until they prove they really have their shit together. Pity, since I was looking forward to Persona 2 on PSP, but if Sony can get its together by the time NGP is out, I'll consider coming back.
And considering that they are a Japan based company, its perfectly alright for them to do that to show that they've been under attack from the environment and from hackers.
Wipe the cheeto dust off your keyboard and type something snarky. You know you'll try.
Yeah I know what you're saying, but it did seem key in your original version of the post.
Hageoyaji: Sure, sure. Well it's different now. I still think Stringer bringing it up was shitty, but at least we can eliminate the semantics from it.
"Hey Jim. My Grandfather died in the holocaust. Also, sorry I puked in your car on Saturday."
Jim, seriously? Usually I like how outspoken and opinionated you are, but your "observations" in this one are just stupid. I seriously hope you don't handle anymore of these Sony/Hacker related stories.
Oh, that's nice. Comparing a tsunami that killed thousands of people and an attack that may have exposed PSN users' card information to nothing. That's more "shifty" than anything he could have said. Are you an asshole or just retarded?
People are bitches.
Unless the ps3 servers were located in the tsunami affected areas - It's not fucking relevant. I missed the part where MS launched the xbox one as a response to the 911 atrocities, and Nintendo blamed the r4 debacle on the global financial crisis. I expect Ms statement on the joy felt at osama's death, followed by a report on the success of kinect sales, completely unrelated, but they thought they should mention.
There is a story about an airplane that crashed in the Japan alps. Representatives of the airline were on site after the event, along with families of those killed in the crash. The representatives were caught using hand fans to cool themselves in the blistering summer heat as they surveyed the wreckage. They were later made to publicly apologize for thinking of themselves in the face of the event and all the tragedy around them.