Sony Fined $400,000 For 2011 Hack

Kazuo Hirai
January 24, 2013 - 6:30am

Sony has been fined a quarter million pounds ($400,00) in the UK by a watchdog, due to its handling of the 2011 hack of its systems that left millions of customers vulnerable. According to the Information Commissioner’s Office this constituted a massive breach of the Data Protection Act that guarantees companies put effective safeguards in place to protect their user's information.

David Smith, director of data protection at the ICO said:

“If you are responsible for so many payment card details and log-in details then keeping that personal data secure has to be your priority. In this case that just didn’t happen, and when the database was targeted – albeit in a determined criminal attack – the security measures in place were simply not good enough.”
“There’s no disguising that this is a business that should have known better. It is a company that trades on its technical expertise, and there’s no doubt in my mind that they had access to both the technical knowledge and the resources to keep this information safe.”

While this really isn't a large fine for Sony, a company that deals in the millions and billions, it is good to see some sort of impact of the screw up that saw all PS3 customer details made vulnerable through poor server security and data storage practices. The ICO did say that the only good news out of the hack was that a lot more people were wary about giving their information to companies now than they were before.

Were any of you guys hit by the hack? Did it make you more hesitant to give your details out in the future?

Comments

Damn of Sony

I'm sure I will never buy another Sony's console again for its bad server's connection , which made me hate my favourite games (call of duty ). Yes I know the Sony's network is free , but when I pay 69.99 for MW3 , 69.99 for BO2 and 49.90 Euro for Elite I pretend the best . ( I verified my connection and it is excellent " it's my job " ) and the same trouble for my friends on PSN and it isn't just in Italy . About the hacking , what sony done for it's users ? They gave some low category games as a gift !

Sue the hackers if you want

This time around I vote for Sony, 'cause the hackers attack should have been meant to help people not endanger them. Please also note that a the protection was hardware guaranteed because of SSL termination between the Console and the PSN servers. Also no user-code could have been run on the console without prior authorization from Sony, therefore security breaches were not in discussion at that time. The thing is that a well known hacker has reverse engineered and obtained the private and shared keys needed to sign and run user-coded applications and scripts and that's prohibited by the EULA and also a security breach. Sony then needed to update the keys and overlay the PSN system with more security measures. This is not truly Sony fault, so get over it. Captcha "Crime of passion" lol

Wrong hack

You're talking about the hacking of the PS3, this is about the data breach where usernames, password, contact details and credit card information of PSN members were exposed. Sony was at fault, wether the fine is insignificant or not, they deserved to be punished - I'm sure the fact this is a story again is more painful for them than the monetary consequences anyway.

I'm sure Sony can use $400

I'm sure Sony can use $400,000 as toilet paper. They probably make that much money every 5 minutes or so with Interest and what not. Sue them Japanese for say 4 billion, that would would have more Impact but not much probably. As I said $400,000 dollars to a billion dollar company is a joke and almost laughable.

In this particular case it

In this particular case it will, moron. All this shit happened because sony ignored basic computer security rules while creating/rushing psn. Gotta love how kids speak out of fanboyism and don't event know the subject they're trying to discuss.

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