By Stephen White SONY executives ceremonially bowed in apology yesterday for the global breach in the firm's PlayStation Network that revealed the personal data of 77 million online accounts.

Kazuo Hirai, chief of Sony's PlayStation video games unit, said: "We deeply apologise for the inconvenience we have caused."

The Japanese firm said parts of the service, shut down since April 20, will return this week and it has pledged to improve security.

Video gamers' account data, including names, birth dates, email addresses and log-ins, was compromised after a criminal cyber attack on a Sony data centre in San Diego, California.

All users have been advised to change their passwords.

UK solicitor Chris Shaw, director of Compensation Pack, which specialises in data protection, said he had been flooded with inquiries from PlayStation Network users.

He said: "We had thousands of people getting in touch."

It could cost Sony £150million in Britain, where three million users are potentially at risk.