Just when you thought that Sony was finally in the clear, it looks like the PlayStation Network has another gaping hole in its security. Again. A hack has come to the surface, revealing an exploit wherein hackers can change a user’s password on them.

How? All they need is the user’s email address and his or her date of birth… you know, the kind of information that was compromised in the first wave of attacks. If they already have this info, they could just go and change your password, having their way with your PSN account all over again. Great. Just great.

The good news is that after this exploit was brought to the attention of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, they took down the web-based PSN password recovery site “for maintenance.” They say the hole has now been patched and you can go ahead and change your password on your PS3. It’s probably a good idea to change your e-mail address (since you can’t honestly change your birthdate) too, just in case.

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The other problem is the sheer amount of bandwidth being sucked out of Sony datacenters. It appears they didn’t prepare entirely for a big spike in initial customers logging back in. According to PCW:

Blame droves of eager PSN members, who reacted to the news like any sensible gamer would, by full-on bum-rushing the network. That didn’t go over well with Sony central, which buckled, then temporarily blacked out. The company revealed last night that it was “experiencing [sic] a heavy load of password resets” and had to “[turn] off the services for 30 minutes to clear the queue.” (Sony reiterated this on its PlayStation blog.)

Well, what the heck did they expect was going to happen? Now we’re not so confident with these “added” security measures.

Sony’s press release states “considerable enhancements to the data security, including updating and adding advanced security technologies, additional software monitoring and penetration and vulnerability testing, and increased levels of encryption and additional firewalls.”

They also added “a variety of other measures to the network infrastructure including an early-warning system for unusual activity patterns that could signal an attempt to compromise the network.”

“If you’ve requested your password reset, it’s taking time to clear all of the ISPs, so please give it a bit of time to reach your email,” Sony tweeted.

Just a recap, 26 days ago Sony announced their network was hacked, didn’t announce it to the FBI until two days after (so what?) then giving a “free” month of PlayStation Plus probably because that first month is going to be as slow as a turtle. And then of course, let’s not forget the billion dollar lawsuit.

I guess it’s good to be back, but it’ll be a steep road for Sony to earn back everyone’s trust.

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So, let’s start with the good news. The good news is that the Welcome Back program includes 30 days of free PlayStation Plus. If you don’t have PlayStation Plus, then you get to try it out. If you already have PlayStation Plus, they’ll extend your expiry date by 30 days. They’re also offering a month of free downloads for “selected PlayStation entertainment content.”

Sony is gearing to get PSN back online next week and it’ll get beefed up with increased security, hoping to prevent similar situations in the future. The bad news? In the present, about 10 million credit card accounts may have been compromised by the hackers. So, yeah, you might want to keep an eye on your transactions on those cards or, better still, ask your credit card company for a new number altogether.

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Sony made the announcement yesterday, one full week after learning of the intrusion. The announcement was possibly delayed in order for evidence to be gathered against the hackers. And of course, they didn’t want to ruin your easter weekend with this news.

A theory surfacing from Reddit explains that PSN was shut down to prevent users of custom firmware (CFW) from using a recently discovered method of pirating PSN content.

It’s obvious Sony has made some enemies as of late, whether or not this is a result of recent action towards the hacking community is unknown, but is timely.

For now, since you cannot get on the PSN, going on day 5, you can simply disconnect your PS3 from the network and keep a watchful eye on your credit cards used on the PSN.

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