PlayStation Network breach has cost Sony $171 million

(CBS/AP) TOKYO - Sony has spent 14 billion yen, which translates to roughly $171 million, to cover the costs of the massive security breach that affected more than 100 million online accounts causing the company to shut down it's online gaming service.

The cost includes identity theft insurance for customers, improvements to network security, free access to content, customer support and an investigation into the hacking.

Sony Corp. is expecting an annual loss of $3.2 billion after also seeing plunging sales of flat-panel TVs and other gadgets.

Restored operations for PSN have begun in the United States and Europe. But for now those services are limited to online gaming, chat and music streaming.

Sony said it aims to fully restore the PlayStation Network by the end of May.

PSN is a system that links gamers worldwide in live play. Sony shut it down on April 20 after discovering a hacker attack.

Sony said personal data, including credit card numbers, may have been stolen. But the company has said it has not received any reports of the stolen information being used illegally.

Complete coverage of the PlayStation network attack on Crimesider