Oh hey, Phoenix; was just wondering where you'd gotten off to.
Per Sony getting attacked again immediately: well, that's exactly what they're taking so long trying to prevent, and if they hire competent security professionals maybe they can get it to work this time. No network is 100% secure, but I am willing to bet money that this attack was the result of an incredibly stupid mistake (remember their complex cryptography where they forgot to salt the keys?).
100% security is impossible, but pretty-good security is entirely possible; Sony's just bad at it.
In case it wasn't clear before I don't believe Microsoft's network is that much more secure because it's fucking Microsoft. If the shit's running on some manner of IIS framework (almost certain) then it's probably just got viruses cancelling out other viruses in equilibrium.
I haven't kept up with the latest version of IIS, but in MS's defense, they've really made major strides in improving security on their OS. I'd put their track record a damn sight better than Sony's these days.
MS is relatively safe right now mainly because they haven't done anything lately to piss off any enthusiast groups. Somehow. If Sony really closes up shop over this (not that unlikely!) we can only but hope that everyone else watching the story unfold will come to the correct conclusion: that overreacting to the piracy issue can utterly decimate your bottom line in ways that the original problem never even approached.
I'm reluctant to draw the "This happened because of the OtherOS/Hotz situation" conclusion without further evidence, simply because no ulterior motive is necessary here; stealing credit card numbers from a Fortune 500 company is an end in and of itself. While it's entirely possible this is some sort of retaliation, it doesn't HAVE to be, and as far as I know the only evidence that it was is the timing.
Though obviously it WOULD be nice if people drew a conclusion along the lines of "let's stop fucking our customers for no reason".