Sony fined £250,000 relating to the 2011 PlayStation hack

Sony has been handed a £250,000 fine by the Information Commissioner’s Office after an investigation into the 2011 PlayStation hack.

The fine is a result of the April 2011 hack which compromised the personal information of millions of Sony’s customers, including their names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth and account passwords. ICO also states that customers’ payment card details were also at risk.

The investigation found that “the attack could have been prevented if the software had been up-to-date, while technical developments also meant passwords were not secure”.

David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of Data Protection, 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.

“The penalty we’ve issued today is clearly substantial, but we make no apologies for that. The case is one of the most serious ever reported to us. It directly affected a huge number of consumers, and at the very least put them at risk of identity theft.

“If there’s any bright side to this it’s that a PR Week poll shortly after the breach found the case had left 77 per cent of consumers more cautious about giving their personal details to other websites. Companies certainly need to get their act together but we all need to be careful about who we disclose our personal information to.”

BBC business reporter Steph McGovern Tweeted that SCEE “strongly disagrees with the ICO’s ruling and is planning an appeal”

Source: ico.gov.uk