Sony Finished By 2012?
Could the PSN hacks mean the end of Sony?
With the Japanese consumer electronics giant left reeling after a truly startling few days, the true extent of the PSN hacks may spell the end for Sony. As it attempts to regain control of its network and rebuild its defences, it will have to face the very real possibility that consumers will ditch its products and cancel their subscriptions. With a reported 75 million user’s details stolen, it represents a huge portion of Sony’s audience worldwide that will be feeling more than a little ticked off. Not only that though, but far more damaging could be the effects potential lawsuits will have if a substantial number of the users with personal details stolen take their claims to court.
For those unclear exactly what Sony’s position is, speaking on the Playstation Blog, Patrick Seybold, Senior Director of Corporate Communications and Social Media, had this to say and made the situation abundantly clear.
“If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, 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. For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information.”
Regardless of whether Sony is able to get the PSN back online (and no doubt, in the next few days, it will) it will have unwittingly allowed the details of nearly 75 million registered users to be stolen – there is no getting around the severity of the situation. A worst-case scenario now, if its costumers don’t leave in droves, is the potential lawsuits that could ultimately cost Sony more than it could afford. Even if a fraction of the people who have had their details stolen end up filing for damages, Sony will have a massive bill to pay. In comparison to Microsoft’s own debacle this generation (the RRoD) this has the potential to dwarf those costs and unfortunately sink Sony in the process – the repercussions cannot be understated.
In the UK, there has to date been only two major cases of stolen details resulting in fines, with the larger case costing the responsible company £60,000. “A4e, a ‘social purpose’ company that jointly manages the Hull and Leicester community legal advice centres, was fined £60,000 by the Information Commissioner. The reason given was that access to the data, which was stolen in June, could have caused “substantial distress” and reasonable steps were not taken to prevent its loss.” (Thanks, legalfutures.co.uk)
To put this in perspective, A4e was responsible for losing the details of the comparatively small number of 24,000 clients. Next to Sony’s leak, this is a minor incident that resulted in a hefty penalty, although this is strictly localised to the UK. Sony, being the worldwide company that it is, could be facing huge costs as the full extent of the leaks becomes known.
What happens next is crucial. If Sony is to survive this mess it will need to make clear to the world that sensitive information will never be at such risks again. Though it may be too little too late.
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Sad and pathetic, this is why I never buy your mags because you publish crap.
It is just speculation right? No one’s attacking you personally; but you’re entitled to your opinion.
“Sony Finished by 2012?” makes no sense. “PSN finished by 2012″ is speculation. You just want to grab people’s attention by using headings which are relative to nothing!
360 fanboys claim that the 360 is the greatest console known to man and it has so many games…yet they have time to write bullshit articles. And they say that PS3 fanboys are the worse.
I’d say it was more than relative given the current situation at Sony.
Hmmm….
Ok, how about we have this conversation again when nothing happens and sony doesn’t get “finished” by 2012?
The PSN was hacked into you know? Its not like sony went and handed out info…
Ok, I got one for you though; this site will be done by 2012 if hit grabbing articles like these continue.
This article is a joke and that’s being generous. There is no concern whatsoever that Sony will be finished by 2012 due to this.
I hope that you aren’t actually getting paid to produce this shit. If I was running this company, you wouldn’t be even responding to these comments, you’d be fired.
I bet when you went in to journalism, you didn’t think you’d be sitting at a computer writing up this shit!
Xbot article….how can someone in the gaming journalism (who shouldn’t be biased) write and fanboyistic article like this that is based on stupidity and an opinion based on assumptions?
What a joke, plus I guess you didn’t hear about Microsoft unbanning consoles? Mostly because they are scared that the samething will happen to them.
Then again, when has the internet ever been a 100% safe? Never thats when.
What the hell is this guy who wrote this idiotic article on about?? What drugs are you taking?? People raved on like little bitches when xbox live a PAID service went down for 2 weeks lol. Just because hackers somehow weaseled their way past the security on Psn does not mean that it’s going to be jeopardized for ever but instead will build a better and safer security for psn as the Sony execs have learnt from this attack and as for hackers they will be found out because even they make mistakes and there’s always someone better out there. If you’re so worried about your personal details especially credit cards then call your bank and have it cancelled.
“The PSN was hacked into you know? Its not like sony went and handed out info…” No, but they may as well have.
Eh Sony shut down PSN as soon as they found there was an intrusion and brought in an outside security firm to investigate the extend of the damage. They did all anyone could do when there is an intrusion. How would MS handle the same thing which could easily happen because hackers proved time after time that nothing is completely secure. You can’t say it was Sonys fault. Sony is not the hacker that got through their security and stole details. Even Government websites that have the best of security get compromised all the time. This article is BS and I can’t believe I buy your Magazine every few months. I’ll definitley buy the other 360 magazines that sit right beside yours from now on. This is ignorant journalism.
What a load of bollocks! This is garbage reporting at it’s worst.
sorry but PS3 sucks in this gen.
you have to install a game before u play it which takes ages
Online doesn’t have as much content as Xbox. Also xbox live is less laggy, because it is more advanced.
PS3 exclusives arn’t that good, and there arn’t any coming soon, except GT5
If your PS3 breaks it is usually extrememly hard or expensive to fix. 2 of my friends had to get a new PS3 because their hard drive broke, or their blue ray player broke
If your not an online gamer the xbox is much cheaper
Xbox has sky facebook twitter msn last fm
lots of games and add ons are coming to xbox way before they go to PS3, e.g. GTA4 add ons and cod 6 map pack.
i’m not a fanboy, because i can come up with just as many reasons why the xbox sucks, i’m just answering your question.
How stupid can u guys get. ‘Will it be the end of sony’! Man u guys are stupid, you bring a whole new meaning to the words ‘stupid americans’!! No it doesn’t mean the end, PSN is FREE no one will have SERIOUS complaints, even the ones who have PS+. If XBL went down for a week xbox wouldn’t die, and TRUST me M$ wouldnt say anything either, they would just bring it back up and say ‘be happy’ and keep paying me! I think u guys are actually retarded – you MUST be
I don’t know why there is a panic, I have a ps3 and personal info on psn, but i’m more worried about the fact I can’t play COD (having serious withdrawal symptoms). Following the news everyone should follow these two simple steps: 1) cancel your existing credit card and get replacement one sent out (5 min call to your cc company, new card will be with you in a couple of days) 2) when psn come back online, just change your password. Simplezz.
@John are you a fucking moron? Yes you are. People won’t be upset with Sony because they couldn’t game for a week. They’ll be upset with Sony for COMPROMISING ALL THEIR PERSINAL INFORMARION FOR 75 MILLION ACCOUNTS AND THEN NOT INFORMING THEM FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK. Holy fucking shit, if you aren’t mad at Sony, then I’m afraid Sonys cock is too far up your ass for oxygen to reach your brain anymore. The only thing left of a brain is nothing but a Sony propaganda spewing machine.
You know, I’m actually not so convinced this will have as big of an impact on Sony as it should. Because unfortunately the PS3 fanboys are so incredibly braindead and obsessed with Sony for them to even be angry with them. They’ll let Sony get away with anything and still be at their knees ready to service Sony. It’s quite sad just how mindless the fanboys are.
This is a serious problem, and incredibly irresponsible on Sonys behalf. As someone who has personal info on PSN, I’m outraged that i even have to THINK about changing all my login information for my online accounts and monitor my bank account. That’s fucking unacceptable. The way Sony was so negligent in securing their customers data is just beyond me, and I’ll never be trusting Sony with data again. If you want to see how negligent Sony was for security, just look through the chat logs of the hackers. They talk about all kinds of things Sony was doing wrong, using outdated software, not encrypting CC numbers sent through transactions, etc. It’s pathetic.
As an xbox/ps3 owner I must say this is journalism at its worst right here. The fact that the “author” thinks a multibillion dollar corporation will be finished by next year because their FREE service got hacked is immaturity and delusion at it’s finest. Ye should be ashamed of this back alley journalism.
Also I hope and pray the hackers (probably some sad spotty teenager virgin with no life or gf) that did this get caught by the FBI and then get what is coming to them in the jail showers!
Xbox fanboys should also not be too superior, now the hackers have brought Sony to their knees, they might come after Xbox live.
I have to confess though, if psn is not back on in the next week, I might consider buying an xbox just to play COD Black Ops (having serious withdrawal symptoms), although I will miss Killzone 3!
@BUNGIE 2011
You most not know anything about the PS3 then if you think,
PS3 has a FaceBook app inside of your Account Info, which lets you post your trophy’s or what you did in a game (Xbox doesn’t even do that), plus we can get on the web with the PS3 and do Twitter.
Online for PS3 offers more and you don’t pay to play online or to get that stuff, Hulu, Vudu, BBC and many more and Xbox hasn’t even got that stuff and won’t get most of that stuff besides Hulu.
Cheaper isn’t better, being cheap means 54% fail rate.
Nothing coming to PS3 only? Wow where do you live? Socom 4, Killzone 3, Infamous 2, Disgaea 4, Uncharted 3, Resistance 3 and many more. 360 biggest titles….Gears 3 and Forza 4 with Kinect.
Add ons PS3 wins, most add ons are free or cost less, Portal 2 came with PC copy and Steam (Which lets PS3 usres play with PC/Mac users, download mods and Steam save files to use PS3 file on PC).
Your lame friends aren’t to smart, hard drive breaks you can just get any 2.5inch SATA hard drive and put it in to your PS3 (360 you have to buy a new one or send it to Microsoft), Bluray drive is something Sony would most likely fix for free. Hey its better then 360′s 54% fail rate.
@Tom and i hope you have to deal with ID theft in the future. You are downright clueless if you think that’s all there is to it. The CC info is the least of my worries. Having these people know all your personal information, your password, login info security questions and answers, these are all the tools they need to start stealing a persons identity. You don’t realize how many people use the same passwords on their accounts, as well as security questions and answers if the passwords do end up being different. All they need to do is put that info into any of the major banks until they find one that matches, and begin stealing your social and any other necessary information.
Now this wouldn’t have been such a problemp if Sony had immediately informed customers so that they could immediately change all their passwords for their online accounts and monitor for fraud. But they didn’t. They waited a fucking week. Which is ages in the world of cyber crime. THAT is what’s unacceptable.
U can’t believe how brainwashed and clueless you fanboys are. Willing to give Sony a pass for this, and actually pat them on the back or have sympathy for them. Unfuckingbelievable.
A little extreme maybe – but the truth is this a major PR fail for Sony and this hurt them.
@John the idiot: Good point, but I use different passwords, and only entered cc info into psn to buy all the COD map packs, so I’m not really worried. All they have is my psn id and password (which I will change on the next login). It maybe much more serious for others.
Don’t get me worng, Sony has messed up bigtime, but I’m willing to give them a chance to rebuild the psn bigger and better. Remember psn is free, xbox live is £50 per year.
I hope xbox and ps3 fanboys will unite and really take the fight ot these hackers – as I said, I reckon they will be after Xbox live next.
I reckon Sony should offer $1million dollar reward for info leading to the arrest of this hacker (actually just a common criminal really). Other hackers will turn that person in within seconds (no honour amongst thieves) And let’s hope they get what is coming to them in the jail showers.
I just wanna play COD!
Shendow @ ummm sorry The online of PS3 isnt as impressive, there are less exclusives of PS3 (i think) and the 360 gets better versions of multiplatform games..
Lol, dont hate im a 360 guy meself :D
@John the idiot, I think you are then really an idiot. Sony did not compromise those information. The hacker did. Nothing on the internet is safe. You already put yourself at risk the moment you step into this virtual world. Would have to thank Geohot for it as well. Just when those moron who supported him keep saying he is against piracy and blah blah blah and he is not wrong. But they just isnt smart enough to think about the damage it can create. Even if Geohot is doing it just for the good to get some lost function back. But whatever he published if being fall into the wrong hand and this is what happen today. Remember Geohot maybe smart but does not mean there isnt smart ones out there who kept themselves low profile rather than being a high ego brat like Hotz does. I think you simply dont know how to think of a big picture simple as that.
Before you think I am a fanboy trying to protect Sony I would have to correct you first. I am not protecting Sony, as I am a victim too. But at least I know who is the right person to blame. And not to miss out this one, I love my 360 as much as I do for my PS3. Its simple as that. I dont particularly side either one as it does not benefit me as an owner of both. Lastly Sony is not doing the wrong thing either for only reporting now. Before they can draw to a conclusion what exactly happen, being a big corp organization they cant just come out and say things base on assumption. But now they truly start talking simply because they have some hard facts on hand. And if Sony wants to be as ass, They could have kept this a secret and let all consumers suffer without even know and throw back the blame at you for not knowing how to safe guard your own things. But they are not doing that but instead they openly confess with the issue. Sony not saint neither is Microsoft. Either can make mistakes be it big or small. You are just one of those who pretty much condemn a murderer who just came out from jail but 100% trying to change for the good yet you simply treat he as a forever murderer. I think the one who is unforgivable is you rather than Sony.
Lastly to Bungie 2011, you are simply another retard fanboy who just want to troll then say you are not. Let’s be honest PS3 has more to offer. You simply live in the history and not knowing how to move forward. Why dont you go back and play PS2 instead since it has even way more games than 360. I think you are talking rubbish. Just look at the line ups over this 2 years. its no deny that PS3 has more to offer. If you like to stick with DLC for a game and just play one game forever calling that a lot of content be it. But honestly I believe most ppl including myself would like to move forward with new stuffs and new experiences. If you friend can buy a new PS3 simply because of hard drive broke. It already show how retarded you and your friends can be. Its like me saying when my 360 hard disk broke and i buy a new 360 when I could have buy a new hdd. you are an idiot. look at the entire generation. dispute for all you want but a fact is a fact, 360 has the highest broke rate of all consoles out there. so stop bitching. I do have friend who already bought his 4th 360 over this 1 generation. your argument completely fail. And if PS3 exclusive aint good. So is 360 to be honest. Both have their own good, none is superior over another period.
@BUNGIE 2011
I own both, Portal 2 is most likely the best on PS3, there is other titles like Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, Star Oean Last Hope, Final Fantasy 13, Mass Effect 2. There is many titles that look better then the 360 one, but most people only pick COD or GTA4.
I think the online is mostly better because it can handle bigger games, kind of the reason I upgrade to 15MBps on internet speed, you can’t find any MMO’s that run off of Lives severs and MAG is pretty awesome (Yeah it may not look next gen but the size is biggger then any next gen game).
@consles gamer: good points. Sony have to really make some big steps to recover the situation, but they can. Why? Because 50 million of us have paid £300 on the console and spent £££ ‘s on ps3 games, which are worthless if we give up on Sony and psn.
Sony need to 1) rebuild the infrastructure quickly and make it super-secure, bring psn back and send out a communication to everyone to change passwords, get replacement credit cards, etc… 2) catch the hacker with the help of the FBI or put a bounty on their heads and send them to jail (I presume they are American or whichever country they come from) 3) offer all of us a free psn game to get us all to login again
I can then play COD with my mates again :)
Simplezz.
I really, really, really hope this hacker get what’s coming to them when they are sent to jail. I’ll have a big :) on my face when I hear about these hackers being jailed.
Sony, please, please offer that $1million reward, you’ll get them quick.
This is a HUGE problem for sony. There are alot of little fangirls in here trying very hard to downplay this issue but it is tremendous. We trust sites and companies with alot of personal information. Can you imagine the outcry if a site like amazon were somehow hacked and anyone who ever submitted credit card or bank info was told their info was out in the open? Outrageous that a company like sony could be made such to look such a fool. Trust me, there is much shame face embarrassment in japan right now.
Okay, this is a load of Bull because there is no way that Sony is going to be finished by 2012. I mean sure, companies have their shit fests every now and again, but what you need to understand is that Microsoft has been in their own fair share of shit lately too. I mean, it seems to me like every time Sony has something bad happening to it AKA Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami, or the now-top-news story of hacking, Microsoft seems to be taking advantage of the situation in some way shape or form. Point being is that the PS3 will be up and running again in no time. Sure they will have a few major bumps along the way especially with their major leak of information, but lets not forget that it is not their fault entirely. This has to do with several hackers and their shitty idea of fun. If anybody should be done by 2012, it should be them and this website for being so harsh on Sony. They have been one of my favorite electronics companies for years and will continue to be for years to come. Viva la Sony!
Okay, this is a load of Bull because there is no way that Sony is going to be finished 2012. I mean, sure, companies have their poo fests every now and then, but what is needed to be understood is that Microsoft has been in their own share of poo lately, too. I mean, COME ON, it seems like every time Sony has something bad happening to them, like the Earthquake in Japan, or now the hacking of PSN, Microsoft comes out looking better than ever. PS3 will be up and running again in no time, and yes, these lawsuits are immanent, but Sony will be just fine. Regardless of what has been happening to Sony, I wish that I could have a PS3 over Microsoft’s sad excuse for a game console.
@Sean. Your love for Sony there is a bit OTT. The majority of the fault lies with the hackers who did this (and I reckon they will be caught, this is such a serious crime, they will have to be caught and sent to jail for a long time), but Sony have messed up big time, but they will recover and I hope they do. They really need to bring the psn service back up asap though. All credit must go to Microsoft though for not having their xbox live network hacked yet.
Haha Whoooooo the Sony Defence team!, you guys are pathetic. It’s a console!, not your nans life support machine, get a f**king life.
sounds like the fan boys from xbox must have forgot there shutdown for a week in 2008. It almost sounds like a Xbox fanboy wrote this rediculous article. To bad a lot of users own both consoles, and still are upset mostly towards the anonymous group or 4 chan whoever it may for there “Free Rights” For internet. and pretty much anything else they touch, hmmm. kind of a wierd cause. Considering that there are people that work for these servers and need to make a living or even people that build and mantain these servers to make a living. Hey hackers You are free…trust me…free to get a job to pay for video games and internet. You have hurt the members of the psn, not psn for taking your pirated video game privilidges away. Oh yeah somebody was suppose to get paid for the video games you stole/pirated/got for free, what ever you called it. Could of been a kid that developed, could have been a father that needed to put food in his kids mouth but because you stole the game he can’t make that extra buck. But all you guys care about is free, not freedom.
i understand why everyone is saying that this is utter bs and it sorta is but like dave said it is just speculation. i own a 360 i love it. half my friends have ps3′s i like ps3′s too but even they are having doubts whether their bank accounts are safe. the hackers didnt just hack into psn to have a little browse perhaps learn the names of a few users, they hacked into it to gain access to bank account details and generally steal a bit of cash. i mean sure xbl isnt perfect but i expect for the amount of money that i fork out every year on it to have decent security software not outdated shit. even with the best security however hackers will alwayls find backdoors. even the militaries own stuff has been hacked. as security software is ramped up hackers will grow with it generally outclassing it in some ways and perhaps even managing to break into it and steal countless pieces of info. anywho give dave a break what do you expect its journalism. and this does not mean that i will stop buying the mag cuz it still has great game reviews, previews and some decent humour.
Maybe it’s just me, but just because there was a breach I don’t see how that means they have everyones credit card details.
I’m not cancelling anything. I’m confidentthat the only thing I have lost from this is online time and with Portal completed I really wanna do the co-op. I’m actually happy to have a bit of time to complete Dead Space and spend some time on NBA2K11 which is awful online anyway IMO.
Awful article based on nothing but rumour.
Must suck to be a games journalist, you can’t write the words Sony or Microsoft without everyone shouting fanboy. Its not even a proper word.
Due to having a PS3 (plus a 360), i find this case infuriating. I’ve only ever bought a Cod 4 map-pack with credit card details, yet hackers can easily take those details and steal people’s hard earned cash. Plus, changing credit card details can be difficult at times. This case also points out a major fault in Sony’s safety walls.
Editor, i’d also love to know your opinion of star comment in the next issue!
Since the PS3 came out it has been one bad thing after another. I am extremely annoyed at Sony about this and will not be supporting their systems anymore. PS3 turned fanboys into the worst possible sort on the Internet. No other fanboy I’ve seen has sent DEATH THREATS over a game going multiplatform. The game is still on PS3 so whats the big deal? And don’t even get me started on how they go on about Sony’s exclusives. Talk about overrating them. Killzone 2 is a mess to play. Uncharted 2 doesn’t have any holding power. The only one I really liked was God of war. And this DVD space holding back PS3 is complete garbage. The game is being built to work on both systems and there are multiple reasons for things getting cut. You don’t know anything about compression if you claim otherwise.
Since it came out developers threw their games on the 360 as well because PS3 was proving too expensive and difficult to design for. Even to this day you can see some games still run better on 360 so the problem is still there (though to a lesser degree than it was when it started). It had the pricing issue. Then there are the recent lawsuits with LG.
Though Sony won the lawsuits it makes you think about just what Sony are doing. They have let our details out and it is their job to keep them safe. They are using Blu-Ray players without permission and not paying any royalties where they are due. Regardless of what anyone says it is Sony’s job to ensure the hackers don’t get the details. And they failed. Well screw you Sony.
details stolen up to 100million. and this is going beyond PSN suckas
This has gone far beyond another 360 v PS3 debate now, not that it should have ever descended into that discussion in the first place. The admission that SOE account details have been hacked is a major concern. The very fact that they now have enough information to apply for credit, open bank accounts and generally ruin my life, is an utter disgrace. The issue being that if they can just hack the security and then gain non encrypted data then Sony need to be held accountable.
Peoples lives could be seriously affected, because data wasn’t secured properly. I can cancel or change my cards, usernames and passwords. I can’t change my name, tel number or address that easily. I certainly can’t change my legal DOB.
Stop hating on the author of the article, it is well written and is probably quite prophetic.
Sony did not use their due diligence when “securing” PSN, and criminal negligence IS a crime.
I for one will sue Sony. They let out all my personal information, and now I get spam email and phone calls I used to not get… I won’t sue for millions, just for free credit monitoring, a new 360, and replacement value of all of my games/blu ray movies. (Approximately 2400-3000). So the total would be around 5k.
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