Five months after Sony suffered from a massive cyber attack that brought down its online Playstation Network, the company has announced that it has found someone to take on the responsibility of protecting Sony"s online security. In a press release today, Sony revealed that it has hired Philip R. Reitinger to assume the role of Senior Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer for the company.
The press release states that Reitinger will "oversee information security, privacy and internet safety across the company, coordinating closely with key headquarters groups and working in partnership with the information security community to bring the best ideas and approaches to Sony." His background includes holding "key cyber security positions" with a variety of businesses and government agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice and Microsoft.
The new position comes after Sony suffered an attack on the servers of its Playstation Network, along with the servers of Sony Online Entertainment, last April. The cyber attack exposed the personal info of tens of millions of the network"s users and caused Sony to shut down those servers for several weeks. A Reuters story today quotes a Sony spokesperson as saying, "Certainly the network issue was a catalyst for the appointment. We are looking to bolster our network security even further." Sony"s CEO Howard Stringer recently said that the Playstation Network was "more secure and better than ever" and that 3 million new PSN members have signed up to use the service since the network was restored.