Patrick Seybold is the senior director of corporate communications and social media for Sony Computer Entertainment of America. Right now, he's got a tough job. Sony's updates on the PlayStation Network are written by Seybold and posted to the official blog. There's a new update on the blog, in the form of a Q&A about the attack. There are a few interesting details here, including the lack of encryption on some of the personal data, and the fact that the location of the hardware that runs the PlayStation Network is being moved.

It has to be said that, at this point, no one is envious of Seybold's position within Sony.

Law enforcement has been called in

"Yes, we are currently working with law enforcement on this matter as well as a recognized technology security firm to conduct a complete investigation," Seybold explained. "This malicious attack against our system and against our customers is a criminal act and we are proceeding aggressively to find those responsible." Remember, the disclosure laws don't come into play if a law enforcement agency argues that disclosure would harm an investigation. We've been told by a consumer advocacy group that this is a common loophole used by corporations who are the victims of this sort of attack.

Another interesting revelation is the fact that some of the data was encrypted, and some wasn't. "The entire credit card table was encrypted and we have no evidence that credit card data was taken. The personal data table, which is a separate data set, was not encrypted, but was, of course, behind a very sophisticated security system that was breached in a malicious attack," Seybold wrote. He also pointed out that the information was behind both physical and electronic safeguards, which means the attack may have been carried out by an employee.

In terms of your credit card information and password, Seybold repeated our advice to search for an e-mail from "DoNotReply@ac.playstation.net," which will give you the first and last digits of the credit card you have on file with Sony. A coming update will prompt you to change your password when you log back into the PlayStation Network.

So what's coming?

The systems are down, they're being rebuilt, and security and infrastructure are both being improved. "Moving forward, we are initiating several measures that will significantly enhance all aspects of PlayStation Network's security and your personal data, including moving our network infrastructure and data center to a new, more secure location, which is already underway. We will provide additional information on these measures shortly," Seybold wrote. The physical aspect is interesting; it was hinted that someone had to physically be there to steal the content, and now the whole mess is being moved to a new location entirely. Sony hopes to have PSN up and running again on May 3.

After all this, we're still days away from being able to play online. "Our employees have been working day and night to restore operations as quickly as possible, and we expect to have some services up and running within a week from yesterday," he said. "However, we want to be very clear that we will only restore operations when we are confident that the network is secure."

Also, it's time to get Dirty Harry with those who are responsible. Sony is "working closely with a recognized technology security firm and law enforcement in order to find those responsible for this criminal act no matter where in the world they might be located." With the combined forces of Sony, law enforcement, and a "recognized" technology security firm all working together, we might have the makings of a really excellent sitcom.