PSN could be down till end of May, says report

(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - Sony plans to relaunch its PlayStation Network, which was troubled by a massive security breach that compromised millions of customers' personal information, by the end of May, according to a company spokesman.

Tokyo-based Sony spokesman Shigenori Yoshida told Bloomberg News service that the company's plans to restart PSN by May 31 with an improved security system.

Sony first disclosed the attack last week, saying that credit card data, e-mail addresses and other personal information from 77 million user accounts may have been compromised.

Last week, Sony said data from nearly 25 million additional online gaming accounts may have been stolen from its Sony Online Entertainment service.

In a recent blog post, the company acknowledged the criticism that Sony was slow to inform customers, but defended the company's handling of the breach.

Sony began investigating unusual activity on the PlayStation network on April 19; it did not notify gamers of the breach until April 26.

Complete coverage of the PlayStation network attack on Crimesider