Sony Fined £250,000 Over PSN Hack

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has been fined £250,000 ($396,100) following a "serious breach" of the Data Protection Act.

UK authorities said a hack in April 2011 "could have been prevented".

[Prodigy-X]

This fined is really nothing. That's not much much money.

[Red_Orange_Juice]

it is for the one who's getting it :D

[MrDead]

I think the fine would of been higher if the encrypted data was able to be accessed. The stolen data seems to be useless but I don’t think that was the point of the hack, it was retaliation against Sony for going after these people.

[Anon1974]

Odd. Citigroup was hacked at the exact same time and millions were stolen from their customers even though they didn't admit it for months. To my knowledge no one reported losing one cent due to the PSN hack and the regulators admitted "there is no evidence that the encrypted payment card details were accessed", which would on it's surface seem to indicate that Sony's security measures protected customer info. Yet I can't seem to find any news regarding Citigroup's fine despite the actual theft.

I'm sure that fine's coming though. Even though the media pretty much ignored the theft of millions at the time to howl because encrypted PSN data made it into the hands of hackers, I'm sure the regulators still have to address fines for lax security for Citigroup that resulted in the actual theft of money. Right?

And does anyone even remember hearing when Sega was hacked a couple of months after Sony and data from 1.3 million customers was stolen related to "Sega Pass"? Much like Sony, there was no evidence there that credit card information was taken either. Odd, I don't remember that being a big deal either.

While I understand the need to keep company's on their toes, does it not seem like for some reason the media has been fixated on Sony over this? You'd think the actual theft of millions would be bigger news, but it was almost completely ignored. And why is there never any focus on the criminals who perpetrated these crimes? If a bank is robbed, we hear about the manhunt for the robbers, or if they have no idea who the robbers were a plea to the public for help. You never hear about the bank getting fined because it's door had a slightly out of date lock on the front.

It's interesting to see how the media treats crimes differently. A bank is robbed and the criminals are responsible. A company is hacked and it's the company who is scrutinized by the media. Again, I think regulators should have a look in cases like these to make sure our information is being safeguarded by the companies we entrust the info to. I just find it questionable how the media prioritizes when it chooses to report these incidents.

[nukeitall]

@darkride66:

That is a nice spin on it as usual. However, this is negligence, not the fact that "Sony was hacked".

Sony failed to put adequate measures in place to protect the sensitive data they were collecting. You should be happy somebody is doing this considering, this company didn't care to protect your data at all by:

a) not encrypting user password

b) using out of data security software

These are things that are standard for even small blogging sites, let alone a technology company that has put a lot more effort into protecting their own assets with the security against piracy on PS3.

"You never hear about the bank getting fined because it's door had a slightly out of date lock on the front."

No, they have a security guard in front and massive security in place. These other financial companies getting hacked probably had proper security measures in place.

You don't blame the company (or bank) for getting hacked (robbed), but you do blame them if they didn't take proper security measures like Sony.

It is irresponsible and negligent of Sony, and it is even more irresponsible of consumers to accept such behavior. It doesn't matter if is MS, Nintendo or any other company.

It is even worse when a consumer twist the thing around to protect a mega corporation in the wrong!

"Yet I can't seem to find any news regarding Citigroup's fine despite the actual theft."

In case you didn't know, that theft goes out of citicards pocket. Credit card fraud is a cost the credit card company pays. There is no fine, probably because they had proper security measures.

Again, it is NOT the hack that is fined, it is the lackadaisical security Sony employed.

[testerg35]

Umm.. its not that they were hacked, but how crappy their security was.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

The bank didn't get fined because they're deep in the pockets of corruption.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

It is when you're already having to sell your assets to pay off debts because nobody will give you a loan due to your "junk" status.

Extra financial liabilities is NOT a good thing for Sony right now.

[zeal0us]

Oh no 250,000 Euros oh lawdy what will Sony do?

[Rush]

Don't you mean Sterling, it's a complete different currency from the Euro.

However still nothing to a business like Sony.

[cl1983]

It's $396,100 US
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/t...

[Kran]

Sigh...

Somebody doesnt know the difference between the euro icon and the great british pound logo.

GBP £
Euro €

They dont look alike much either

[KrisButtar]

i didnt know what the difference was, thanks

[MsButterbean]

And those responsible? Lulsec? When are they going to land in jail?

[tachy0n]

the only responsible here is sony, imagine how crappy their security was, LOL putting user information in plain TXT files.... stop being a fanboy, for companies like sony we are just numbers.

[Hicken]

Because better security stopped governments and banks from being hacked by the same group, right?

"Oh, you got robbed because the lock on your door wasn't good enough. We'll fine you instead of going after the people who broke in. We put NO responsibility on the perpetrator of the act, only the person victimized."

Is that what you'd wanna hear from the cops after somebody broke into your home?

[tachy0n]

@Hicken

*facepalm*
that comparison is so stupid since companies like sony, have more than enough money to ENCRYPT user information, its sony's fault since they have the money to buy a proper security system and instead they did not cared until they got hacked.

STOP DEFENDING SONY!! SILLY FANBOYS!! FOR THEM WE ARE JUST NUMBERS!!!

[nix]

Sony is dooooooooomed!

[EliteDave93]

For a big company like Sony £250,000 ain't really that much.

[M2-]

For a big company like Sony that was once worth $200 billion and is now worth about $20 billion, every penny counts.

[torchic]

Sony would need to sell roughly about 1000 PS3's to make that kind of cash.

that's nothing really Sony could throw 1000 PS3's into a volcano and it wouldn't make any difference to them financially.

[badz149]

don't throw them into the volcano! I could use 1000 more PS3 here!

[BeAGamer]

<3 Sony

[BrianC6234]

This is really stupid. So many other companies have been hacked since then. Are all of them going to get fined too? I think England must be racist since they're going after a Japanese company. They better do the same thing to all British companies. I bet their government has been hacked a lot too but they don't even tell anyone.

[RuperttheBear]

' I think England must be racist since they're going after a Japanese company.'

I think you're an idiot if you actually believe that. The NHS, an English institution, got a much heavier fine for a data breach -

http://www.ico.gov.uk/news/...

Are the English racist against the English as well? Grow up.

[BrianC6234]

Are they going to fine the dozens of other companies that got hacked last year? I see way too much being made out of Sony getting hacked while the other stories are nothing.

[RuperttheBear]

How should I know? How about you tell me how a country is racist based on this?

[MrDead]

Did you just call a entire country racist?

[tigertron]

Are you for real?

[cleverusername]

Your ignorance is quite astounding! I actually feel sorry for you! My sincerest sympathies go out to your parents!!

[testerg35]

BrianC6234... LOL.. are you for real?

[acmegamer]

If you are over 10 years old you really need to get a grip and grow up!

[M-M]

That's pocket change for Sony.

[Belking]

Yea, but when you only have one pocket it could hurt. It's not all about the money. Bad press isn't good for any business.

[animegamingnerd]

a little late to sue aren't we

[hiredhelp]

They spent millions upgrading moving servers and buying symantec as well as given away free games.
250,000 isnt a huge deal to a company like sony more of a slap on the wrist myself i was more than happy with there appology there efforts in doing a world wide investigation and spending BIG money doing whats needed to make our accounts much more safer.

Sony just had to update but oh no they as always went that extra mile for US.

[M2-]

When did Sony buy Symantec?

[RuleofOne343]

I Don't think they bought the makers of Norton securities, maybe someone made a reference .

[hiredhelp]

M2 i didnt make myself clear i do appologise.
firstly i didnt mean to interperate that they brought symantec but from my understanding they spent money useing there securety.
However that being said i still stand by what i said sony has spent alot money in dealing with this situation.

[testerg35]

hiredhelp, correct.. the problem was Sony did it after the hack.

[Drainage]

damn sony dropping the ball while nintendo moving on to bigger and better things

[majiebeast]

What would that be not having a decent account system or makng wiiu owners pay more for vc games, they already own so they can play them on the gamepad?

[cleverusername]

Is the Nintendo section a bit short of news today so you've had come here? Craving a bit of attention?

[SITH]

They should have know better. No excuse.

[cleverusername]

Could've been prevented? I'd like to see the person who came up with that one stop themself being hacked if the hackers came after them!!

[SnakeCQC]

i completely agree with this sony handled the whole thing soooo badly it was weeks before sony made any statement

[joeorc]

the Bad they had shoddy security in the past people, key note "in the past" they were fined, Sony fixed the issue. they had a public apology, they upgraded their security they restored their security up to industry standards. Gave out more services and content to their consumer's because of this Hack. Sony is now more security centric for their online network. but..but i have to wait for these updates for PSN goes down all the time, but if a hack happened again you would get the same d@mn people again said the punishment was never good enough. "Just put down Sony as the mongrel dog they are" right?

Get over it! they have fixed what was wrong. this is like the physical hardware failure of the Microsoft xbox360 is that in the past also?

this was about the hack in the past key word "past" some people just cannot let it go. if it bother's you that much maybe not using the PSN or Sony product would be better for your mental health. This is not a free pass, hey if Microsoft get's hacked like this by a group of people dedicated in Hacking Microsoft's security, do you think Microsoft would be anymore protected?

That answer is No. if they were going to hack you it's only a matter of time. network security is like swiss cheese, one piece protect's the the other, but there is holes in every single layer. None is completely secure, no matter what you do.

would these very same people have this very same aggressive attitude over Nintendo, or Microsoft failure in security?

How about if your mom or dad keep bringing up something you did in the past, over and over again never let you live it down right...annoying is it not?

Sony got fined in the US and now in europe..check
Sony made amends...check
Sony now fixed their online security....check
Sony keep's their security upto date and keep's updating PSN security..check

some people stick to being Real douches, because we cannot keep getting enough of that type of attitude!

LMAO

[WeAreLegion]

Does the court realize that websites designed to protect information have also been hacked? Even the FBI and CIA websites have been compromised and skimmed for data.

HOW exactly does one stop hackers? They sort of have the upper hand, here. Google is playing it smart. They hire hackers to find weaknesses in Google Chrome. They give out big sums of money for it, too. ;) Very smart.

[RuleofOne343]

You have to admit the UK & EU will fine anybody if given the chance, but hey someone has to do it.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

They're going to appeal this decision. But if they fail then they just lost almost half of what they made by selling their NYC headquarters.

[EffectO]

I guess Sony will have to sell some toilet or something like that.

[cedaridge]

It goes to show you no one is PERFECT! And both Microsoft and Sony have tried to make right their wrong's, microsoft 3 yr warranty on the RROD xbox 360 and sony with the hacking giving you a free month of plus. Hopefully both of them have learned their lesson.

[HonestDragon]

Okay, so the hack occurred in April 2011 and only until NOW are UK authorities making a motion to sue. Even then, their reasoning for it is, "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". Well, of course, it's a top priority for any online business that requires log-ins and passwords, but hacking is not inevitable. There WILL be hackers that are determined to get information any way they can.

And isn't it funny that they mention that the hackers were determined as well? "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." So, in other words, they are aware that this was a concentrated effort by the hackers. It took more than one hacker to break through the security systems Sony had in place. I guess the security was good enough to keep them out until a group got together in a determined attack.

And yet Microsoft Live isn't brought up when their users get their accounts stolen or when games get hacked. Ironic, considering that we see articles of people and games getting hacked on Xbox Live on a bimonthly basis. At that it is nearly always one person. Sometimes that person is just a snot-nosed punk kid. Kind of makes you think where some people's mindsets are.

You know, this kind of reminds me of that fiasco last year when John Beiswenger filed a lawsuit against Ubisoft because he felt that the Assassin's Creed series was "infringing (his) rights" from a novel that he published long before the series debuted. This is considering that Assassin's Creed has been around since 2007 and Beiswenger sued in 2012. The case didn't go anywhere, but shows that anyone is willing to file a lawsuit just to get money.

Oh boy, look at all these Sony haters. They have come out of the woodwork for this one. Isn't it typical of the society of today to blame a crime on someone or something else and not on the perpetrator who did the crime? I'm seeing that plenty from Sony haters. This is also evidenced with politicians and parents blaming video games for shootings. Grow up and learn to blame the bad guy, not the victim or a third party.