In the wake of what will likely go down as the biggest gaming failure since Virtual Boy, Sony chief executive, Howard Stringer claims the PlayStation Network is more secure than ever, according to a report from CNET.
“I’m pleased to tell you that the PSN is more secure and better than ever,” Stinger told press conference attendees at the IFA consumer electronics conference in Berlin.
The statement was a big change from the head of a company that, a little over four months ago, could do little more than watch while a wave of security breaches washed over its networks.
Stringer wore those breaches as a badge of honor, while signalling to the public and nervous shareholders that the worst is over. Sony’s stock is trading 38% below its price at the beginning of 2011, a combination of the impact of the attacks and the Japan earthquake and Tsunami.
“This year, we at Sony have been flooded, we’ve been flattened, we’ve been hacked, we’ve been singed, but the summer of discontent is behind us.”
The release of some 100 million people’s sensitive personal information by hackers linked to the online mischief making group Anonymous did grievous damage to Sony’s reputation and dented the company’s bottom line, as well. The hack was compounded by Sony’s resonse, with the company doing just about everything you aren’t supposed to do following a massive data breach. That included a slew of inaccurate or hopelessly optimistic reports from the company as to when the network would come back online and continued stumbling over security holes, such as a serious password reset issue.
In previous statements, Stringer has defended his firm, saying that it was just one victim in a “bad new world” that will eventually see other firms fall to sophisticated hackers.
