After facing tons of criticism regarding its reticence about the breach, Sony held a press conference in Tokyo. The company president
started off with an apology, and of course it was very well due. He then proceeded to inform that the company is working on bringing the network back and it should be up and running "within a week". Well, we had been hearing about May 3rd for restoration, so no surprise here. However, for all your troubles and your credit card number, CVV numbers and everything else, Sony also offered a 'welcome back' package which includes free downloads and full month of free PlayStation Plus premium service. Hope this will ease the pain of getting your credit card number in some miscreant's hands. Though, in its defense, Sony claimed that there is no conclusive evidence that data actually has been stolen. You can read more speculations here.
Sony did accept that the breach is a "highly sophisticated attack by a skilled intruder." It also went on to provide Amazon-esqe explanation for the incident. For all those who are inclined towards getting all the facts, here is a brief overview. The compromised servers were located in at AT&T centre in San Diego. The first unauthorized access attempt was detected on April 17th which prompted Sony to shut the network down. However, it took mighty long time to come out and accept that the data may have been compromised. Apparently, the case is now being investigated by FBI.
Sony also released the press statement, chalking out the steps taken by it for restoring the network. They will start off with restoring online game-play and would then move on to reinstate music service and so on. Get ready to change your password as well. The network would also move on to more secure data center, which apparently was a work-in-progress for last several months. So, do you feel secure enough to get back on to the network?