Sony issued £250k fine
Sony has been finedf £250,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in Wilmslow after it was found to breach the Data Protection Act.
The fine was awarded in relation to the hacking of the firm’s PlayStation Network Platform in April 2011. As a result of the breach, the personal information of millions of customers, including their names, addresses, email addresses, dates of birth and account passwords, was stolen. Customers’ payment card details were also at risk.
ICO investigation
The investigation conducted by the ICO found that the attack could have been prevented if software used by the firm had been kept up-to-date. It was also revealed that technical developments meant passwords were not secure.
A priority
Commenting on the case, ICO deputy director and director of data protection David Smith 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.”
He added that the penalty issued by the ICO was “clearly substantial”, but noted that the organisation makes no apologies for that. About this, he remarked: “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.”
A proactive approach
If you’re determined to avoid falling victim to data breaches, it’s important to adopt a proactive approach. Rather than waiting for problems to arise and then responding to them, it’s necessary to make sure you stay one step ahead of the criminals.
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