Stringer: PSN attack the beginning of "a bad new world"

Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer has said that the PlayStation Network and Station.com breach that left 100 million user accounts vulnerable to criminal activity is a sign of bigger problems to come for all online businesses and systems.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Stringer said he could not guarantee the security of the PlayStation Network, and the company is now dedicated to earning back the trust of users that have had personal and financial information compromised.

"It's the beginning, unfortunately, or the shape of things to come. It's not a brave new world; it's a bad new world," said Stringer.

It's the beginning, unfortunately, or the shape of things to come. It's not a brave new world; it's a bad new world

Howard Stringer, Sony

"We have to earn back the trust and loyalty we may have lost in this circumstance. That's our goal and that's one we have to reach."

Sony has been criticised for not informing users sooner that credit card details may have been stolen, and after yesterday defending its reaction time, Stringer added that PlayStation boss Kaz Hirai remained controlled during the worst crisis to hit Sony's gaming business.

"If anything happened in this period that was positive, Kaz demonstrated coolness and leadership and reliability absent of disagreement and dissidence that was very impressive," said Stringer.

Hirai believes that Sony has done all it can to strengthen the PlayStation Network. The company began to bring the service back online last weekend in a controlled roll-out across Europe and the US, although it remains down in Japan due to government concerns.

"We have done everything possible and reasonable to make sure that a system is secure from attack," offered Hirai.

It's still too early to assess what the impact of the breach and downtime has been with PlayStation users, said Hirai, although in the first two days of a resumed service "a very small percentage" of gamers had cancelled accounts.