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It’s been a month since the PlayStation Network was taken down; a general feeling of unease and paranoia has been left with not just users of the PSN but internet users as a whole, with one question being asked in particular – how secure are we on the internet?

It is unknown who actually hacked the PSN, but with what seemed like relative ease the whole network had to be taken down and millions of personal details were stolen, so what’s next? Will there be an uprising of anonymous hackers terrorising the internet? – cyber-crime seems to be at an all time high.

Many disgruntled gamers are harping on about switching their Ps3 for an Xbox 360, as if they’re somehow impervious to hacking attempts. Yes Sony should have alerted gamers sooner, but who’s to say the ‘360 won’t suffer the same fate somewhere down the line…

Square Enix also felt the wrath of the e-criminals, confirming that a number of its websites have been infiltrated by a group of unnamed hackers. Both the official Eidos website and the portal for upcoming game Deus Ex: Human Revolution were accessed and later taken down. Emails and CVs from job applicants were illicitly accessed in the process.

“Square Enix can confirm a group of hackers gained access to parts of our Eidosmontreal.com website as well as two of our product sites,” a statement read.

“We immediately took the sites offline to assess how this had happened and what had been accessed, then took further measures to increase the security of these and all of our websites, before allowing the sites to go live again.”

“Regrettably up to 350 of these resumes may have been accessed, and we are in the process of writing to each of the individuals who may have been affected to offer our sincere apologies for this situation.”

But loyal PlayStation customers will be happy to know that the PSN as of today has resumed service, and is back online! The phased restoration will include the return of nearly all of SOE’s (Sony Online Entertainment) portfolio of online games, SOE made enhancements to overall data security as well, including updating and adding advanced security technologies, additional software monitoring, performing new penetration and vulnerability testing, and increased levels of encryption.

“Our main priority is the safety and security of our customers’ personal information,” said Kazuo Hirai, Executive Deputy President, Sony Corporation.

“We are making consumer data protection a full-time, company-wide commitment, and have applied enhanced security technologies so that our customers can feel protected and confident about playing our games.”

While the PlayStation Network will return to service in the majority of countries, the Japanese authorities want reassuring that the network will be secure on it’s return.

“We met with Sony on May 6th and 13th and basically we want two things from them,” director of the Media and Content Industry department at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry Kazushige Nobutani told Dow Jones Newswires.

“As of May 13th, Sony was incomplete in exercising measures that they said they will do on the May 1st press conference.
“There were similar cases in the past that were caused by other firms, and we are asking Sony whether their measures are good enough when compared to countermeasures taken in the past.””