Sony Hires Homeland Security Official To Protect PSN

Sony has announced today the hiring of a former official at the Department of Homeland Security to head its efforts to protect Sony's game networks from future hacker attacks. This move comes just a few months after the high-profile attack on the PlayStation Network (PSN) that brought the platform down for over a month and saw the data of 100 million users compromised.

Following the PSN outage, Sony had promised that it would hire a top exec to beef up its security and to reassure customers that such a breach would not repeat itself. The company has recruited Philip Reitinger, a former director of the US National Cyber Security Center, to become senior VP, spearheading its security operations.

The PSN breach is said to have cost the company more than $171 million. Sony has recently launched a new online portal called the Sony Entertainment Network, which acts as an umbrella brand for the company's Video Unlimited, Music Unlimited, and PlayStation Network services, replacing Qriocity.

[via VentureBeat]