Sony’s popular PlayStation network, used by millions of gamers, is back online after a hacking attempt led the company to temporarily take the system offline.
In a blog post, the company said PlayStation was “stung by an “attempt to overwhelm our network with artificially high traffic.” Sony said it saw no evidence of any intrusion to the network and there was no evidence of any unauthorized access of the personal information of its users.
It wasn’t the first time Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation network has faced an attack–the network was stung by a cyberattack in early 2011, an event that hasn’t led to any confirmed reports of customer identity theft issues or misuse of credit cards. Still, Sony in late July reportedly agreed to a $15 million preliminary settlement in a class action lawsuit over that hacking incident.
Cyberattacks are an increasing concern for companies and individuals, with billions of dollars lost every year to repair systems hit by such attacks. EBay, Supervalu and Target are among the high-profile names that have reported an attack to their system in the past year.