Sony has stated the problem was caused by an external intrusion which resulted in the confiscation of personal information.

The same people who angrily ousted Slobodan Milosevic might also be angered by what they perceive as unwarranted external intrusion.

STEVE: Certainly a NAT router continues to provide very good, I mean, like, perfect protection from external intrusion into the system.

When hackers invaded, Sony took the PlayStation Network down for 72 hours before writing a statement saying that the company had suffered an "external intrusion."

There are, okay, routers will protect you from any external intrusion.

And XP Service Pack 2's built-in firewall, which is free, protects you similarly from any external intrusion.

Trained staff will then apply what they have learned at a chosen test site, which will be on an island to minimise uncontrollable external intrusions.

An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.

The company later announced an "external intrusion" had affected the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.

This warning came nearly a week after the initial "external intrusion" and while the Network was turned off.