Restoring PlayStation Network taking Sony longer than it thought

Sony’s restoration of its PlayStation Network online game service is taking longer than it thought. The company had hoped to have the system up this week, but that looks like it isn’t going to happen, according to a new blog post.

The PlayStation Network’s 77-million-plus registered users have been without service for more than two weeks. And it looks like they’re going to have to wait a little longer, even though Sony hinted a couple of nights ago that it was starting to bring the system back up. That is sure to irritate gamers who thought they might be playing online games again this weekend.

Patrick Seybold, spokesman for Sony, said in a post tonight, “We’re still working to confirm the security of the network infrastructure as well as working with a variety of outside entities to confirm with them … the security of the system. Verifying the system security is vital for the process of restoration. Additional comprehensive system checks and testing are still required, and we must complete that process before bringing the systems online.”

Seybold said that making sure user data is safe is the company’s big priority and it won’t restore services until Sony can test the strength of the system.

“When we held the press conference in Japan last week, based on what we knew, we expected to have the services online within a week,” he said. “We were unaware of the extent of the attack on Sony Online Entertainment servers, and we are taking this opportunity to conduct further testing of the incredibly complex system.”

More than 24 million PC online game users have been without the service of Sony Online Entertainment since Monday.

Seybold added, “We know many of you are wanting to play games online, chat with your friends and enjoy all of the services PlayStation Network and Qriocity services have to offer, and trust me when I say we’re doing everything we can to make it happen. We will update you with more information as soon as we have it. We apologize for the delay and inconvenience of this network outage.”

Meanwhile, as we noted earlier tonight, Sony is mulling a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the hackers, according to AllThingsDigital. Seybold didn’t address this matter in his post. Sony also has to make sure it protects itself from more possible hacker attacks. Sony said yesterday that it is offering a $1 million insurance policy to protect U.S. PSN users from identity theft, since Sony still isn’t sure if hackers stole 10 million Sony customer credit card numbers.

J.P. Morgan published a report noting that “Sony is the victim here” even though the Japanese consumer electronics giant has been widely criticized for its slow disclosure. It noted that Sony has not provided any cost guidance related to the insurance policy.

Sony’s top executives have repeatedly apologized for the outage. Check out our timeline of Sony’s hacker troubles.