Sony claims PlayStation network 'hack-proof'

Sony is confident that its PlayStation Network can now resist hack attacks. Photo / Supplied

Sony has rebuilt its PlayStation network to make it hack-proof, the company said as it announced two new tablet computers.

Chief executive Howard Stringer admitted Sony had been overwhelmed and "flattened" by hackers who helped themselves in April to data on an estimated 100 million users of the PlayStation system and Sony's Qriocity film and music network.

"That was yesterday," Stringer told a roomful of reporters at the IFA consumer-electronics expo in Berlin.

He said Sony had come up with a big portfolio of new products to put the April break-in and the security gaps it revealed in the past.

The PlayStation Network was now extremely secure and "better than ever," he said. Sony would now unite its various online services providing music, movies and other types of content into the Sony Entertainment Network.

Sony's long-awaited entry into tablet computers throws down a gauntlet to Apple, which has sold millions of its iPad computers with very little effective competition.

Stringer said the winner would not be the one which was first on the market, but the one that was best.

He spoke of raising the "tablet world" to a higher level.

The lower-priced model, the Sony Tablet S, goes on sale in September in Europe. It has a 23.88-centimetres screen, somewhat smaller than the iPad's. Since it has an infra-red interface, it can double as a remote control for appliances.

In mid-November, the Sony Tablet P will go one sale. It is a fold-out device with two 13.97-centimetre screens.

- AAP