Sony: We settled PSN hack suit to avoid trial costs, but 'continue to deny the allegations'

Sony this month agreed to a $15 million preliminary settlement in a class-action lawsuit over the 2011 data breach of the PlayStation Network, Qriocity and Sony Online Entertainment services.

But the company continues to deny allegations that the company's network wasn't properly secured, leading to the hack.

[user7402931]

good move, trial costs would be significantly more

[AndrewLB]

They settled in order to keep the public in the dark over their terrible security and to hide the extent to which confidential data was compromised.

$15 is nothing if you look at the number of people who were victims. Some lawyer will get 30-35% of that money if not more, and the people hurt get to divide up the scraps.

[kreate]

I thought sony came out and told the public what happened and bowed their heads down in front of the camera?

Didnt they offer like a million dollar per person or something like that?

So if u got money stolen, sony will pay u up to a milliion bucks or something. Along w free credit checks etc.

Dont quote me on the million. It might of been 10 million i cant remember.

Target's situation was worst, but somehow we dont care about target. And its forgotten and forgiven.

[UltraNova]

Isnt Target an American company? Take that as you will...

EDIT: Andrew take a breath man, I sure hope you get paid for your 'efforts'...

[mrpsychoticstalker]

Come on Sony, the entire Media knows that you are guilty! Why deny it?

[-Foxtrot]

Guilty of what...being the victim of a massive online hacking group

Every service/sites security is breakable if you attack it enough and with such collaboration. They were determined after Sony had the balls to bring Geohot down.

Sure they aren't completely innocent but it's not like it was fully their fault.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

'continue to deny the allegations'

Here's this.

http://www.gamesradar.com/s...

"But the company continues to deny allegations that the company's network wasn't properly secured, leading to the hack."

Sony should of came clean as soon as they realized it was hacked.

[ziggurcat]

@angelic:

No. It's better to assess the situation first before jumping to erroneous conclusions.

[randomass171]

Sony made the right move. If they had come out day one without knowing what exactly had happened, there would have been widespread panic and that would have led to a lot of wild rumors and allegations that would have been an even bigger PR disaster for Sony. We should be mad at the hackers who broke into the system, not Sony. Being mad at Sony was exactly what said hackers wanted from the public.

[DragonKnight]

"Come on Sony, the entire Media knows that you are guilty! Why deny it?"

Only if you mean the MisterXMedia.

@Angelic: The fact that it says nearly 100 million accounts when the number was 77 million doesn't bother you? Sony was in a no win position with people like you. Had they come out day one and said something, you'd have got the pitchforks and torches ready for the lynch mob. If they waited like they did and told users before they told the media (which they did, any PS3 user will tell you about the emails), same result.

Let's just face facts, some people want to punish Sony for being a victim no matter what. It's a stupid, immature attitude to have, but it's not going away anymore than the FUD those people spread.

Also, where was all of this outrage and victim blaming when the Heartbleed bug fiasco happened hmm?

[Imalwaysright]

They're guilty alright. They're guilty of knowing that their servers had security flaws and didn't do anything about it. They're guilty of incompetence and negligence.

http://www.tomsguide.com/us...

From article:

"Also present at the press conference was Chief Information Officer Shinji Hasejima, who revealed that the attack actually exploited a “known vulnerability” in the web application server platform used in PSN"

But of course that the N4g corporate apologists will spread misinformation and get 100 agrees for it.

[ShinMaster]

It's like blaming the victim instead of the mugger.

There's always a security exploit in everything and hackers can find it. The government gets hacked.

[sinspirit]

@Imalwaysright

Sure. They sent everyone a direct message about the issue and completely revamped their security and then gave everyone two free games. But, according to you they were incompetent, negligent, and somehow guilty of a crime that other people committed against them. They didn't know they had security flaws. Many multinational corporations have been hacked into, especially in recent years. Sony actually had the guts to go after one of the most influential hackers and got attacked for it. Sorry that they stuck up for the entire industry there.

Not all hackers are bad. But, some are ridiculously self-entitled people that play pretend hero.

[Imalwaysright]

@ sinspirit Please, I'm not a 5 year old. From the article I posted in my 1st comment

"actually exploited a “known vulnerability”"

This isn't me saying this, it's Sony's chief information officer at the time. Their words not mine. They knew, they were incompetent and they were negligent. No one is asking them to have a 100% secure network. Everyone knows that's impossible. They just had to do EVERYTHING they could to prevent attacks because it was their responsibility to do so. They didn't, they're guilty.

@ ShinMaster The only victims in this whole debacle are me and all the other millions of consumers that got our information stolen because of Sony's incompetence and negligence.

[sinspirit]

@Imalwaysright

Except.. You cherry pick words from the article to suit your agenda. The exploit was known.. but, not known to Sony management. It's not like they knew and ignored it like you keep trying to tell everyone.

[LogicStomper]

@Sinspirit

Sure Imalwaysright is 'cherry-picking' words, but has he taken it out of context? No. Sony's chief information officer knew it and should have acted on it. If you knew there was a flaw in your system and something happens to your system due to that flaw, it gets pinned on you because of your negligence to act upon it.

[irokster]

Why bring up that POS geohot? I had already completely forgot about him.

[Kribwalker]

You guys also probably believe OJ didn't do it, as well Zimmerman killed that kid for a reason too. They are guilty of knowing there was a problem and not doing anything about it. Ask GM about that right now, faulty ignitions are costing them millions as they also killed people

[Christopher]

@AngelicIceDiamond: You do know you can be properly secured and get hacked, right?

Secure != unhackable

I've worked on a good number of projects that were secured and identified as secured by security agencies and yet have gotten hacked or had similar security issues.

[ziggurcat]

If you can point out a single case where someone's information had been maliciously used as a result if the hack, I will give you a bubble.

[arkard]

Within 3 days of the hack my credit card that was attached to my account, was used to make an online purchase in another state. Hell of a coincidence if you ask me.

[Burrito26a]

@above. Hell of a coincidence you had that story at the ready.

[ziggurcat]

@arkard

you've fallen into the trap of the post hoc fallacy because that's exactly what that was: a coincidence.

i hate to break it to you, but when CC info gets stolen in that kind of way, it takes more than 3 days for something to actually happen.

that, and all stored CC info on PSN was actually encrypted, so it's not likely that what happened to you was a result of the hack.

nice try, though.

[BlackTar187]

a hack of Millions of CC info takes more then 3 days to crack encryption and start using the CC.

[gaffyh]

77 million accounts were supposedly accessed yet only a very small handful of people actually noticed any strange activity on their accounts. Also, most likely, this just prompted them to look at their accounts and realise that they were already had some sort of credit card fraud going on.

I really doubt it was anything to do with the PSN hack, you were probably just unfortunate to get you card hacked elsewhere.

[Funantic1]

They stole info and didn't use it. Yeah right. I've read different blogs of people having credit cards and identity issues. It was kept hush hush. If Sony is denying allegations then they could be lying about info being stolen.

[rainslacker]

@Fun

Ever consider that even if they stole the info that they couldn't use it because it was encrypted? Believe it or not, heavy encryption is almost impossible to crack without massive amounts of processing power, and an idea of the encryption keys used. It's highly unlikely that the hackers had the resources to crack the encryption. There is nothing that points to this hack being malicious with intent to distribute that information anyways, but was used more as a way to prove a point that the security was flawed.

Out of the number of people that had their CC on file with Sony, we'd have heard more than a few random forum members here or there making comments about how their identity was stolen. The FTC would have stepped in by now, and that hasn't happened. The courts wouldn't have dismissed most of the charges against Sony in this regard had there been evidence that the CC info was stolen. There would be lots of articles about it, yet that hasn't happened.

Isn't it just possible that it is what most people assume...that no actual usable CC info was stolen?

Initially Sony stated that a customers CC info MAY have been taken, but later to a Senate Subcommittee said

"Sony Network Entertainment America has not been able to conclude with certainty through the forensic analysis done to date that credit card information was not transferred from the PlayStation Network system. We know that for other personal information contained in the account database, the hacker made queries to the database, and the external forensics teams have seen large amounts of data transferred in response to those queries. Our forensics teams have not seen the queries and corresponding data transfers of the credit card information."

For those that don't know, subcommittees such as this don't ask questions they don't already know the answer to. They already have all the answers, and it's mostly for show and clarification to follow up on official statements.

[XiSasukeUchiha]

Denial bro finest at its best because hackers actually hacked Sony not Sony itself fool, it's time that you be on an genjutsu (Sharingan).

[MysticStrummer]

"the entire Media knows that you are guilty!"

Spoken like a true psychotic.

[OrangePowerz]

Guilty of being hacked yes.

As for waiting to make a statement.

You can't just randomly make a statement when you get hacked. You need to investigate what exactly happened what data was possibly accessed and close that particular door of entry before making a statement.

None of the other companies make statements directly when they get hacked and pretty much every company got hacked and user data stolen and in the last 3-4 years.

No system is secure of hackers if it is connected to the internet. Hackers will always get in. That's the reason why PCs with important functions or data are not connected to the internet. Obviously that can't be done for servers that are used to handle online purchases and store online account data.

[MRMagoo123]

Could have you imagined what would have happened if sony came out the same day they found out and said "hey we got hacked, we dont have a clue how when why or what has been taken used or changed, have a good day" of course investigating it first is the best idea, its just the trolls like feed on this crap that think otherwise.

[rainslacker]

Dunno. I remember getting an email about it what looking back was 6 days after the initial hack happened. Going back and doing research I saw the hack happened between April 17-19. On the 26th, Sony issued a press release through email and on their blog about what had happened.

Otherwise, I've never known a company to come out immediately after something like that happened. It's always been at least 3-4 days, if not more. Sometimes they don't even say anything, and then it comes out in some scandalous way.

As I recall, Sony's statement looked like they did investigate what happened, and had set up some fall back scenarios for their customers. Their press release was rather detailed with what they did and didn't know.

http://www.webpronews.com/p...

They also took extra steps to help customers who may be negatively affected by it.

I think personally the civil suits and possibly criminal trials are only justified in the sense that the security problem may have been known before hand, which is why I don't completely defend Sony on this. I do get tired of seeing all the misinformation that gets thrown around with this whole thing though....even several years later.

It does bug me that companies are held accountable when they are the victims. If Sony didn't do anything wrong with their security then they shouldn't be forced, or compelled in some way to pay reparations. Sony in this case though seems to be somewhere in the middle of a victim and negligent...which overall makes them accountable to some degree.

[kingPoS]

...the entire Media knows that you are guilty!

Oh man should of bought that premium ADT home security. It's my own fault that my house was broken into.

Guilty of what?... being stolen from.

Gateway MT6706 2008

[LogicStomper]

Bad analogy. Better analogy would be you knowingly leave the side door open to quickly go out and buy something, only to have your house robbed.

Yes it was the robbers fault for stealing stuff in your house, but it was your fault for your conscious decision to leave the door open.

[kaileb]

Even if you secure your home and still got broken into, still. your fault (according to some commenters here), good news is that you can sue that home security, again according to the comments......

[Volkama]

Do you offer to securely store other people's property in your house? If not then that isn't really a good analogy.

I don't think anyone is claiming Sony had malicious intent, or that they are the bad guys. It is just a question of whether they were negligent in their responsibilities to protect personal data.

[iDadio]

If a band of hackers wants your servers down they'll do it no matter what kind of security you have I'm afraid.

When it hit the network was taken down and I received an email pretty shortly after - the details were brief but I was kept informed so not sure where this bull is coming from about keeping it under wraps.

[DinoNYC]

Guilty of a non-secure network? Tell that to the FBI, CIA, NASA, and Department of Defense. No reason they should be sued for being a victim of a hacking group.

[rainslacker]

They were being sued for not taking enough precautions to protect customers data. Most of the information that was stolen was easily obtained, namely name and address info, along with passwords and security question answers(which is a bad thing as it could lead to actual theft).

I really can't speak to the merit of it as I don't know how far they went, nor is that information easily obtained. I also don't know, nor does anyone else for that matter, seem to know if the security flaw of the servers themselves was known ahead of time.

What I'm noticing(again after several years) is that a lot of people are assuming they know exactly what was taken, and how secure it was, and exactly what security measures Sony had in place on the actual servers themselves regardless of the info on it.

[Revengeance]

Lol we all know you're insecure because Xbox is struggling but please refrain from spreading your insecurities to other people. I'd rather see less Xbox drones like yourself on this page thank you.

[fonger08]

Having intimate knowledge of what transpired, Sony Computer had all the equipment and security protocols setup and in place. What really happened is they missed a firmware update and didn't install in time before the hack took place. So technically they were/are secure they just missed one tiny (albeit costly) firmware update.
Bottom line is, I don't care how secure you are or think you are, if someone has the time, knowledge, and equipment, they will find a way to hack you.

[SteamPowered]

The poor poor bugger that tries to inherit my credit score is gonna be sorry. It will prolly go up if anything.

[Soldierone]

Same here. Was in a car accident (not my fault) and have almost 20k in bills. the other insurance won't pay them until settlement and told me to start paying on my own..... yeah I have no money for that so all of them went to collections. Never saw my score go from 700's to 400 so fast.

[MysticStrummer]

People who jump on Sony for this love to ignore the number of large companies, and even governments, that have been hacked.

[Volkama]

Probably because this article is about Sony, and not about other large companies and governments.

[MegaRay]

If only i had a PSN account in 2011.... (I Had a PS3 but i wasnt into digital gaming or online gameplay)

[xx4xx]

Whenever I hear people sh*t on Microsoft for being a 'bad' company, I always think of this example from Sony.

The security of the network isn't an issue to me since some a$$hole somewhere will find a way in.
But what Sony should be ashamed of is that it knew about the beach for 4 weeks and did nothing. No notifications to users...nothing.

Sony cares about the gamers?

No. Like Microsoft, they care about the money.

[DragonKnight]

"But what Sony should be ashamed of is that it knew about the beach for 4 weeks and did nothing. No notifications to users...nothing."

Yeah, that's a load of bull you're spewing there. Sony emailed users before they told the media, and it wasn't after 4 weeks of knowing about it and doing nothing. When they found out about it, they shut down the network pretty much immediately, we got emails pretty quickly once that happened, but they never specified in detail what happened, nor should they have until they knew exactly what happened.

[Darkstares]

They did not send e-mails right away explaining what had happened or gave any updates via e-mail. They shut down the service and said it was down for maintenance. In fact this is why Sony received flack in the first place, they did not notify PSN users the extent of what happened until about 2 weeks later. Sony then apologized when the details came out and admitted their service was not as secure as it could have been. To compensate users they offers some freebies and a premium identity program which lasted a year.

I know all the details since I've been a member for many years now. We don't need you to act like a Sony representative unless you want to finally come clean and tell us you do indeed work for them.

Sony also never admitted there was disc read errors for the PS2, another settlement that they handled without going to trial. They don't want to go to court, that way they can hide things from the public and not suffer a bad image in the process if they lose.

Most sensible people know you cannot be 100% hack proof but Sony is still liable for having sufficient security measures in place, they didn't at the time but they do now.

[DragonKnight]

Listen stalker, you can't tell me, a PSN member since 2006, about when I did or did not receive an email. You can lie, as would fit your position since you've nothing better to do than to follow me around the site merely taking the opposing side like you've been doing for like 2 years now, but that's about all you can do.

"Sony also never admitted there was disc read errors for the PS2, another settlement that they handled without going to trial. They don't want to go to court, that way they can hide things from the public and not suffer a bad image in the process if they lose."

Yeah, I'm sure your multinational corporation is doing well right? Oh what's that? You don't own one? So you're trying to talk as if you do because.... oh that's right, you're a disingenuous twat. I mean, it's inconceivable that a business doesn't want to tie up resources and time in a court case right? No not at all, they must be settling because they're guilty and want to hide it, despite the fact that everyone jumps to the conclusion that any person or company that settles a case out of court must be guilty. They're doing a great job of trying to hide guilt by making everyone think they're guilty aren't they? Your logic is so fool proof and without glaring holes.

"Most sensible people know you cannot be 100% hack proof but Sony is still liable for having sufficient security measures in place, they didn't at the time but they do now."

Which you have intimate knowledge of... how? Oh you don't? You're just adding two factors together to come to an unfounded conclusion? Totally something someone with a rational thinking mind does. I can see you're a shining example of intelligence and rationality with that kind of thinking, only a matter of time before you become a tenured professor who goes on to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

http://a.abcnews.com/images...

[Darkstares]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

"But he and other executives acknowledged that not enough had been done in security precautions, and promised that the company's network services were under a basic review to prevent a recurrence."

There you go, right there in black and white. But please carry on with the damage control, it really is quite entertaining. Oh and those disc read errors on the PS2 were just made up from Xbox fans too according to your logic.

[DragonKnight]

So you basically post B.S. which I refute (destroy really) and your response is to quote Kaz Hirai's belief that not enough had been done, as opposed to the nothing that you (and others like you) previously eluded to which still blames Sony for the criminal acts of others, and doesn't define what "not enough" means?

Waiting for that Nobel Peace Prize speech man. It's gonna be filled with so much ERMAHGERD, I can hear it already.

I really hope you're never the victim of a crime because you know what they say about Karma right?

"Oh and those disc read errors on the PS2 were just made up from Xbox fans too according to your logic."

It's hilarious that you'd use the word logic considering you never use any and fabricate stuff all the time. A disc read error is a manufacturing problem that CAN be tied to the manufacturer. A hack is a crime perpetrated by someone against someone else. Nice try stalker. You've lost your touch, but I imagine that's just the result of having to continuously create new email accounts and new user names to spend all of your time looking for what I say and where so you can take the opposing position.

Pretty sad that that's your life, but I suppose I should help you out. So here's my next position.

Water causes objects submerged in it to become wet.

[Volkama]

Sony acted relatively quickly on this. People underestimate how long it takes for a large corporation to move on something so significant.

Companies do not rush into statements that could cost them millions or billions of dollars. There would be meetings about meetings, legal vetting and financial assessment of everything that could possibly be communicated.

Look at Microsoft and the RROD. They spent about a year trying to dodge the subject, not because they were stupid or genuinely unaware of the topic but because it was a serious matter. By their own estimates the cost of the eventual action was over 1billion dollars. Stuff like that takes time.

That isn't a like-for-like comparison, just an illustration that nothing happens quickly!

[Christopher]

***There you go, right there in black and white.***

Are words of a gaming site and not of Sony itself... That's not a citation from Sony, that's the website's own words.

[iceman06]

You do realize that, as a company, you can't just say "hey, we've been hacked!!!" without knowing the extent of the information taken and how it could possibly effect your customers? Every corporate hack that has happened has come with a delay to get information to the customer. Why? Because they don't want the widespread fear and panic. They want to be able to explain EXACTLY what happened and how to keep it from happening again. It's not just as simple as notifying users.

[WeAreLegion]

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

[RosweeSon]

Microsoft aren't impervious to being hacked as well luckily I had no problems with the sony debacle oh apart from changing my password, major hassle!!! However my xbox got hacked they spent my Microsoft points which I got back and some (free copy of tony hawks as the lady didn't listen to me tell her I bought that repeatadly) but they didn't help me at all after that with getting it back to how it was ie on a email address I could use/remember did they feck they basically said it was my fault I got hacked, yeah cos I posted all my details for my account online, well that's thanks for being xbox gold for 7 years. All companies are in it for the money it's just how they go about it.

[DragonKnight]

Yeah see, that's what I was going to reply about, how MS blames its consumers for any hack that happens to them with some nonsense about a "weak" password or posting account details online. And that's their go to response without any research.

[fonger08]

Technically Sony didn't have to say anything (even though they did send us email). The US government only states that only when confidential material has been comprimised should a company have to release info regarding the incident. Many, many, many companies are hacked weekly dealy, but you'll never hear a thing about them unless someones credit card, social security, or banking information is taken.

[rainslacker]

The hack happened somewhere between April 17-19th. They took down the network early on the 19th. On April 26th, Sony issues a press release on their blog and regular press and sent a copy to all their members emails. Not sure how you measure time, but that's less than one week...far from four.

Before the press release, Sony did send a short email to people letting them know that the network had been hacked, and that they were investigating and more details would be coming soon.

After they got things back up and running, Sony made a very public statement at E3 addressing what happened. They didn't sweep it under the rug, but tackled it head on.

At what point, in your delusional world, based on what I said, and what Sony has done to compensate for what happened, can you say that they have done nothing?

[lnfiniteLoop]

"The official went on to say that no Sony entity have received "confirmed reports of identity theft linked to the attacks, and there is no evidence that anyone's credit card information was accessed."

must have been shear bad luck that within weeks of the hack $400 of booze was bought in Canada using my credit card and I still get junk/spam email from unique email addresses only used on PSN... now store twiddly pop on PSN account not even my address

[DragonKnight]

Pretty much. The security number on every CC card was encrypted and the hackers themselves said they couldn't do anything with that info since they didn't have the keys.

[WeAreLegion]

Yes, it was bad luck.

[iDadio]

Hmm a story that doesn't fit the facts by someone with an Xbox avatar how dubious.

Calling BS

[Specter229]

Never crossed your mind that they may have a PS3 and an Xbox? I agree it's a coincidence and all , but calling BS based on a picture? You should probably look into the Kennedy assassination bet you could solve it just by looking at the grassy knoll.

[iDadio]

@Specter

Not disputing the fact he may have a ps3, I'm disputing the nonsensical story linking apparent credit card fraud to the psn when facts about encryption say otherwise.

Your last point is just idiotic.

[Soldierone]

Still doesn't make sense to me. Why are they suing the VICTIMS of this? THEY got hacked, they didn't sell your information like other companies do daily (Facebook, Google, even Apple sells the information that Sony didn't have on lockdown) Other information such as credit cards were indeed encrypted. Sony also offered free ID Theft protection to ALL customers. What more did they need to do? (Didn't see Target doing that!)

It doesn't make sense to me. It's like me doing everything I could to hack any given company just so I can sue them for getting hacked.....

[rainslacker]

The issue with the civil suits is that some believe that Sony didn't take enough precautions to protect the users information. The CC info was encrypted, but none of the other data was. It wasn't all plain text like some early reports said, but it wasn't hard to decipher.

In addition, there were some security flaws with the servers themselves, and that's where people are seeking civil compensation. The hackers exploited those flaws. They hacked the servers to show that the flaws were there, not to really steal any information maliciously. There's been no evidence that the information was distributed by the hackers that I know of.

To date, there is no evidence that the flaws were known and that Sony was negligent by allowing them to remain there. It's purely speculation. However, given that there were updates for the particular flaw used, it means they either knew, or someone really dropped the ball.

What Sony is claiming according to this article, is that it's cheaper to settle now, than to go through a lengthy litigation process spanning several years, in which this information would likely become known. Whether it's purely financial, or because they're trying to hide the facts is unknown. However, prior cases have dismissed charges of negligence, so it's likely they'd be dismissed again unless new evidence has been found. I imagine the settlement would be bigger if there were new evidence, as there's already been a congressional inquiry, as well as a couple trials regarding this issue already.

[RosweeSon]

Ah the old Michael Jackson route pay the family money but I didn't touch the boy!! Tut tut still that ps4 tho what a beast! And that's no joking matter ;)

[WeAreLegion]

Anyone who would take money for something like that was probably lying. You can't pay a decent parent off to just forget that their son was molested.

[SilentNegotiator]

Your child won't be unmolested once it's done. May as well take a couple million and give the kid some therapy and an N64 (or whatever system was new back when that happened; I don't know the year/s without looking it up).

Besides, how many years would the king of pop get for anything short of a killing spree? Of probation, I mean.

[RosweeSon]

I'm a Michael Jackson fan but you don't pay anyone anything if you've done nothing especially $20 million.

[Gezmoyassine]

And what company would admit that their network wasn't properly secured.

[turdburgler1080]

I remember my buddy swearing he was going to sell his ps3 when this went down...he still has it.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Its amazing to watch some on hear try to defend Sony in this situation, and now defend their denial of any "wrong doing" when it came to that hack.

Their security measures were horrible by any standard for an e-commerce company and worst yet, when the hack did occur they buried the information for 4 weeks. They were wrong on many fronts and absolutely should bear blame.

The irony is had this been another company on this site (say MS) they would have been torn apart by the majority here for this ridiculous and stupid PR statement of denial but because its Sony they now amazingly get a pass.

Oh well, its a stupid thing to say by Sony period. Moving on.

[MRMagoo123]

I love it when ppl type all those words and show how little they know about it all, thanks for the laugh, maybe do some research as into what happened and you wouldnt look so silly. Then after all that tripe that means nothing what so ever you even try to play a hypocrisy card from no where with no reason to do so and no proof to back it up either.........nice work.

6 bubbles too how odd.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

The hack is well documented as to their poor security measures as well as their utter lack of reveal to the public about what actually happened for almost a full month. I didn't think it was necessary to go back through all of that.

And yes, if MS or say EA PR released such a statement they would be crucified on this site whether it was factually true or utter PR fluff. Everyone would raise their pitchforks in anger.

You can't deny that wouldn't be the case these days.

[LogicStomper]

I love it when people tell others they're wrong yet not mention how they're wrong except the opinion that they just are. It just shows how little you know about the situation yourself and what do you know, you've just played the hypocrisy card from no where with no reason and no proof to back it up. Nice work.

2 bubbles, meh, expected.

[rainslacker]

6 days(at most). They "buried" the info for 6 days. The network was down for 3 weeks, but the public knew long before that that the PSN was hacked. They let PSN users know within a few days that something was going on. I thought it was two, but it may have been 3-4 since I wasn't aware anything was going on at the time until I got that email, which is why I remember it so well. I do remember getting a short email from Sony saying that information may have been compromised and more details were coming in the next few days.

Since there has yet to be any evidence of outright negligence, I give them the benefit of the doubt. The only thing I don't excuse is not encrypting all consumer data, however the only thing that wasn't encrypted that may make a difference was security question answers. The rest of the stuff is all public record, and would be easier to find with google than working a complicated hack on a major corporation. Most of that information is sold daily by any number of companies and we give it out freely, and only get worked up about it when stuff like this happens.

The hack is well documented. So much so that it has it's own Wikipedia page, and hundreds of links on Google. The facts are easy enough to find out. Which is why I wonder why you are spreading the same misinformation as a common Xbox fan boy would. You're usually much more level-headed than that.

The poor security measures you speak of are mostly speculation. It's more a matter of if there was willful negligence involved in not plugging those security holes. To date, there has been no proof of willful negligence, and a Senate subcommittee and a trial case have not been able to prove any such thing. Again, facts that are well documented.

[SilentNegotiator]

Facts won't stop people like Death (literally charging Sony guilty until proven innocent with CC data), gamer####, or Dlacy13g.

[LordMaim]

Factually inaccurate.

I have in hand, an email from Sony dated April 27th, 2011 received at 1:09PM CST, entitled "Important information regarding PlayStation Network and Qriocity services" that details the information about the hack. Sony did its due diligence before informing the public, just like any company would do.

All told it took 10 days, not four months as you claim.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Well I didn't say 4 months. But I will stand corrected they sent out an email 10 days after the fact.

[illtornworld]

lol no offense but this is exactly why i dont leave information on anything. like when i do use cc to purchase from psn i immediately remove after purchase. in this instance why is Sony losing that much money? shouldn't the actual hacker/hackers face this punishment? Sure Sony didnt want worldwide panic so they handled it themselves but still.

[illtornworld]

atleast Sonys hack took work, microsoft had a worse problem a 5 year old hitting ENTER sooo yeah lol,

[chaosx]

Of coarse they are denying it, if they ever admitted wrong doing it would a lawsuit feeding frenzy.

Didn't the Hackers at the time go public with the specifics of how they got in. The server in question was not patched properly. Easy mistake to make but still if you don't install the security updates that are provided too you , it is definitely that companies fault.

Guys that did this , didn't smash through a window to break in,they climbed in through the window that was left open.

[cyclindk]

Not siding with any corp, but hackers been hitting tons of stuff these days, governments, corporations, individuals... Nobody's at fault for that but hackers, now transparency about oversight, that's another barrel of walnuts.

Or tub of acorns
Jacuzzi fully of ketchup
Canister filled with avacado peals

Yep, works with anything apparently

[Spotie]

And they were transparent, as quickly as possible. We knew about as soon as they did.

All the rest of that silliness above is just that.

[OfficerDewey]

Man, their security was so bad, that no credit cards could actually be used. I swear i could never get my card validated on psn. So they can't steal whats not there. This just seems like fraud lawyer and his lying clients trying to get cash. Let's hack sony and we could get jobs at ms and google. Nothing stolen here but i did get LBP free. Now i eagerly await the new one. Somethings are hard to prove, especially in trial. Yet i think they would've won this in court. Hackers know my first name.. Whoopiedeedoo!

[OfficerDewey]

Let's sue EA's origin service. That shit is "harmless" spyware.. No?... It knows my server, isp , location, name, dob and my psn/xbl account thru battlelog. Therefore it's a big hack that we now are USED to.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Settling the case is an admission of guilt.

This will be another blow to their already damaged reputation.

[Artemidorus]

PSN is still a security risk with an attitude like that.

[MCTJim]

Settling is almost always cheaper than going through the full trial and then getting slammed at the end. Can I blame them for settling, no, its the cheaper way out.

[Flames76]

People are crazy to give sony their credit card info anyway.When i had a PS3 i never put that info on it.Sony isnt as good as microsoft about protecting your account.I been with xbox brand since 2001 xbox live since 2003 and never had any problems