Andre Yoskowitz
24 Jan 2013 21:46
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined Sony for the massive data breach in 2011 of its PlayStation Network.
In 2011, the attack led to the leak of personal details of over 100 million users.
ICO has fined the company $400,000 for the breach, calling it "a serious breach of the [U.K.'s] Data Protection Act (DPA)." Section 4(4) of the DPA reads: (4)Subject to section 27(1), it shall be the duty of a data controller to comply with the data protection principles in relation to all personal data with respect to which he is the data controller.
Personal details that were stolen included names, addresses, DOBs, emails and account passwords. User credit card details could have also been at risk.
Adds David Smith, Deputy Commissioner and Director of Data Protection: "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."
Sony will appeal the ruling.