He suspected the hackers entered the network by taking over the PC of a system administrator, who had rights to access sensitive information about Sony’s customers. So they expose code with errors in it to large numbers of people, which is a catastrophe in the making.” In the rush to get out innovative new products, security can sometimes take a back seat. Paller said Sony probably did not pay enough attention to security when it was developing the software that runs its network. The company said user account information for the PlayStation Network and its Qriocity service users was compromised between April 17 and April 19. Sony said it has hired an “outside recognized security firm” to investigate. “The bigger issue with Sony is how will the hacker use the info that has been illegally obtained?” “This is a huge data breach,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, who estimated Sony generates $500 million in annual revenue from the service. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained,” Sony said.Īnalysts said that while Sony has notified customers of the breach it still has not provided information on how user data might have been compromised. The shutdown of the PlayStation Network prevented owners of Sony’s video game console from buying and downloading games, as well as playing with rivals over the Internet.Īlan Paller, research director of the SANS Institute, said the breach may be the largest theft of identity data information on record. PlayStation blog on Tuesday.Ī Sony spokesman said it took “several days of forensic investigation” after learning of the breach before the company knew consumers’ data had been compromised. Īn “illegal and unauthorized person” obtained people’s names, addresses, email address, birth dates, usernames, passwords, logins, security questions and more, Sony said on its U.S. Last year, Toyota Motor Corp was slammed for being less than forthright about problems over a massive vehicle recall.
Tokyo Electric Power Co was criticized for how it handled the nuclear crisis after the March 11 earthquake. The electronics conglomerate is the latest Japanese company to come under fire for not disclosing bad news quickly. Sony did not tell the public until Tuesday, hours after it launched its new tablet computers in Japan.
Sony said it learned of the breach in its PlayStation Network on April 19, prompting it to shut down the network immediately.
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