Hooray! Sony has announced via the PlayStation Blog that the wait is almost over! The company will soon commence a phased restoration by region of PlayStation Network and Qriocity services, beginning with gaming, music and video services. The company also announced both a series of immediate steps to enhance security across the network and a customer appreciation program to thank you for your patience and loyalty.

Working closely with outside security firms, the company has implemented new security measures to further detect unauthorized activity and provide consumers with greater protection of their personal information. These new measures include additional automated software monitoring and configuration management to help defend against new attacks, enhanced levels of data protection and encryption, an enhanced ability to detect software intrusions within the network, and the implementation of additional firewalls. The company also expedited an already planned move of the system to a new data center in a different location, and will soon release a PS3 forced system software update that will require all registered PlayStation Network users to change their account passwords before being able to sign into the service. As an added layer of security, that password can only be changed on the same PS3 in which that account was activated, or through validated email confirmation.

And to reward you for your patience, Sony will institute the Welcome Back Appreciation Program. Each regional territory will offer select PlayStation entertainment content for free download (more details by region coming soon), and all existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with a 30 day free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service (current Plus members will receive 30 days of free service).