Sony Has Learned From Its Infamous 2011 PlayStation Network Hack

2011 was a rough year for PlayStation 3 and PS Vita owners. That’s because, for a good period of time, the PlayStation Network went down, the target of a very infamous hack. It left 77 million people without online service, and put hundreds of thousands of pieces of data, including names, addresses and personal data, at risk. (Plus, it left PS3 owners of Mortal Kombat without the ability to challenge their friends online. Boo.)

But did Sony learn from what happened with the hack? Speaking with Polygon, Shawn Layden, who serves as the president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment America, explained how it was actually a “necessary evil” for the company, in an effort to make its network better.

“It took years off my life,” he explained. “I remember the day.”

He also noted, “It if had to happen to us, I’m glad it happened then. We’ve learned so much from that experience.”

In terms of what the company learned, Layden described it as a “baptism by fire” of sorts. “We were in a good a position as we could beat the time with what was, at the time, state of the art. But we did get hit and we have taken our capabilities in that area to the highest degree possible. So no one is complacent or ignorant about the dangers and the challenges that are out there but I think we are in a much better place today.”

Consumers are certainly happy with the Sony brand again, as the PlayStation 4 has sold millions of units, and the PlayStation Plus service has been a hit with fans as well, namely with the offering of several free games on a monthly basis across a variety of platforms. The network has seen sporadic outages since then, but nothing nearly as long as the outage that affected it in 2011.

Sony will explain what plans it has ahead for PlayStation Plus – and of course, its PS4 systems – in just a couple of weeks when its PlayStation press conference takes place right before the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Hopefully, we’ve seen the last of the hacks.