In an effort to regain the confidence in its PlayStation Network (PSN), Sony is offering incentives, freebies and insurance to users.
Sony restored its services this week after the cyber attack which hit its PSN and other services in April.
Sony had to shut down its network on 19 April, when it discovered a massive hack that is believed to have compromised sensitive details, including credit card information, of over 100 million people across the world.
Sony has said that it has hired private detectives to investigate the matter. The FBI is also probing the hack. However, no one has been held responsible for the hack so far.
Initially there were reports that online hacktivist group Anonymous was behind the hack to avenge Sony’s action against hackers. But Anonymous has refuted the claims.
However, Sony has been accused of delay in responding to the hack as well as of trying to hide information from users.
This week Sony started restoring its network after its engineers installed security features in it. It is also offering a package to thank users for their support.
The package includes two free PS3 or PSP games, 30 days free membership of Sony’s premium PlayStation Plus service. Existing PlayStation Plus members get an extra 60 days free. Sony’s Music Unlimited Service subscribers will also get 30 days free service.
Sony is also planning to offer a 12-month free identity protection programme – which includes fraud support, a dedicated helpline and insurance – for gamers in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain who have been an account holder of PSN on 20 April 2011.
Meanwhile Bloomberg has reported, citing a person familiar with the matter, that the hacker behind the massive Sony PSN hack could have used Amazon’s EC2 Web Services cloud-computing unit.
The source told Bloombberg that hackers rented a server through Amazon’s EC2 service under a false name and launched the attack from there. The person added that the account has been shut down now.
