So for the PSN users out there, are the assurances of extra security and some free goodies enough to make you forgive and forget the whole event happened? Or will this whole experience put you off using PSN for anything outside gaming in the future?

• Enhanced levels Initial implementation of data protection and encryption
• Implementation of additional actual firewalls

• Access to download un-expired Movie Rentals on PS3, PSP and MediaGo

Keep in mind though that they weren't actually obligated to give us anything for the outage, unless you were a PSN+ subscriber that is

Much the same as mobile carriers when there's network outages

Armchair cybersleuths on the trail of the PlayStation Network hackers have been focusing attention on a chat log that shows several technically sophisticated PlayStation tinkerers discussing Sony’s security vulnerabilities in knowing detail just two months before the breach.

“If Sony is watching this channel they should know that running an older version of Apache on a RedHat server with known vulnerabilities is not wise, especially when that server freely reports its version and it’s the auth[entication] server,” writes “Trixter,” one of the chatters.

The Feb. 16 chat was held in the IRC channel “#ps3dev.” It’s a gathering spot for people hacking their PlayStations for various purposes not approved by Sony, such as installing custom firmware, trying to restore the console’s ability to run Linux, or working to build a home-brew version of the PlayStation Network.

*a little bit later in the interview*

McDanel admits he doesn’t know that Sony’s web servers were vulnerable to attack. The authentication server he mentioned in the chats was running Apache 2.2.15, which was superseded in June 2010, but has no remote-access vulnerabilities listed on Apache’s website.

Stay classy Sony.

Stay ?
Sony are the digital version of Hitler and Stalin in my books.

All the freebies they are offering are really just marketing tactics to hook people up to paid subscriptions

...were lost, apparently from "an outdated database from 2007."

It [sony] said banking and credit card information belonging to more than 23,000 customers outside the U.S. may have been compromised.

name, address (city, state, zip, country), email address, gender, birthdate, phone number, login name and hashed password.

Much the same as mobile carriers when there's network outages - the SFOA you accept pretty much states that due to the nature of mobile networks, outages can happen & they're not obliged to compensate you should one happen.

There have been plenty of data breaches at plenty of companies, but I've never heard of one taking down a service for weeks. In the event of a serious breach here's what you'd do:
Backup the servers for analysis
Re-image the servers w/ all relevant patches
Verify database integrity
In many cases I've seen this handled with no interruption of service. What exactly are they doing that takes weeks? I don't think they're telling people the whole story, and I've got a theory:
Data was deleted / altered ( including purchased content info ) and is non-recoverable.
I can think of 3 possible ways this could happen:
Backup data was stored on tape, and the tapes were unreadable ( very likely, esp for large data sets )
Backup data was stored on disk and the backup data was also deleted
Subtle changes were made in a way that made the changes look identical to normal purchase transactions

still not back ><

the thing is when it does come back there will be so much traffic that it will be slow as

PlayStation®Network Offline

Apparantly the servers running the PSN were running "very old and unpatched" apache software and didn't even have firewalls on these servers. Quite mindblowingly retarded if true.

Its amazing that they could somehow have been passing the PCI Compliance tests.I work for a small part of a big worldwide company as the s*** we have to go through to maintain PCI compliance is huge. Our servers are scanned by an external company, if we are running old versions of things, we have to fix it up. I dont know how Sony could have gotten away with not doing this.

Reports are that Sony needs to make a virgin sacrifice into a volcano to restart the PlayStation Network, but with the network down they're having difficulty making contact with any potential volunteers.