Sony to Pay £250K Fine for 2011 PSN Data Breach
Paying for its mistakes.
Sony has agreed to pay a hefty fine over its 2011 data breach. Back in April of 2011, Sony's PlayStation Network was hit with an attack that forced PSN offline for an extended period of time. In January of this year, the UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) levied a hefty fine against Sony for what it called 'a serious breach' of the UK's Data Protection Act. The ICO on Thursday tweeted that Sony has agreed to pay the fine.
PSN was breached in the spring of 2011 and the data of millions of users compromised. Speaking via a statement released in January, David Smith, Deputy Commissioner and Director of Data Protection, said Sony should have been more careful about how it protected users' data.
"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," Smith said. "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."
PSN was offline for several weeks following the breach. When the service came back online, Sony attempted to restore some of users' good faith with a welcome back package that included multiple free games and free access to PlayStation Plus.
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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outlw6669 Reply
*facepalm11166287 said:Sony has agreed to pay a hefty fine over its 2011 data breach.... £250K... -
iam2thecrowe 250k is a hefty fine for a small company. For Sony it is a spit in the ocean. But meh, it doesn't matter how good your security is there will be a way around it. Its a risk putting your personal details anywhere that is accessible via the internet. It could happen to any company.Reply -
ssdpro These fines are just in place so gov't agencies can say they held the company accountable. £250K is about $377000. In other news, last week I got a $10 parking ticket.Reply -
Roland Of Gilead 250k......what a joke. I was one of those affected. If you calculate the time I spent offline, and the paltry 'welcome back pack' they gave access to, I think they should have been fined a damn sight more. 250k is one Managers salary in that company per annum. They should be fined millions, instead of hundreds of thousands.......but sure we all know how these things work........big business gets a slap on the hand. TUT TUT TUT.Reply -
eklipz330 unnecessary, as hacking is unavoidable. people with ill intent will do as they please, and with the right tools, they can't be stopped.Reply
just like in the U.S., it seems they're trying to make things 100% safe, unfortunately for the majority of us, that will always be impossible, even if they can tell the future. Watch the scientific documentary called "Minority Report". -
Spooderman Nowhere near enough money, why have all the big businesses been getting off so easily?Reply -
Maxx_Power Reply11171095 said:Nowhere near enough money, why have all the big businesses been getting off so easily?
There is a good documentary about all of this and more, called "The Corporation".