As promised, PSN and Qriocity users get free identity theft protection from Sony

Sony has made good on its promise to offer free identity theft protection, including a $1 million insurance policy, to PlayStation Network and Qriocity users, the company announced on the PlayStation blog today.

The offer is a good gesture from Sony, following the April PlayStation Network attack that lasted nearly a month, wherein private user data (including credit card numbers and account passwords) was stolen from its systems. But it remains to be seen if this will be enough to repair Sony’s reputation with gamers.

According to the PlayStation blog: “AllClear ID PLUS is a premium identity protection service that uses advanced technology to deliver alerts to help keep you safe. The service also provides identity theft insurance coverage and hands-on help from expert fraud investigators. Sony has arranged, at no charge to eligible PlayStationNetwork and Qriocity account holders, for twelve months of this service to be provided by Debix to those who choose to enroll.”

As VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi wrote previously, the service will offer monitoring of the internet to detect exposure of any AllClear ID Plus customer’s personal information. That includes monitoring criminal web sites and data recovered by law enforcement. The user will be alerted by phone or email if the information is found and will get monthly status reports.

Activating the service is easy: Simply fill in your PSN or Qriocity account email address on Sony’s blog post, then follow the instructions that get sent to your email. Sony says it may take up to three days for your email address to be verified.