Sony Case Study

Sony Case Study

Case Scenario

Between April 17, 2011 and April 19, 2011, the PSN (PlayStation network) was hacked and personal identifiable information by 77 million users was compromised. After 23 days, Sony brought back services online and provided advantages for users who came back for the services. However, Law suit came by the time, the lawsuits was about the data losing and criticize that Sony were protecting its games more than its customers.

Company Overview

Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and was included within the 2012 Fortune Global 500. Sony Corp. engages in the development, design, manufacture, and sale of electronic equipment, devise, game consoles, and software for consumers, professionals, and industrial markets. Its operations are carried out through the several segments, including Consumer Products and Service. The Consumer Products and Service segment includes Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. (includes PlayStation), Sony Network Entertainment, Sony Online Entertainment, Llc and other various groups (sony.com).

Questions

Do some research on the Sony PSN debacle? Has Sony's Play Station Network been hacked again?

Ans. Sony Corp. says its PlayStation online gaming network has been hit by hackers again, and it's suspended about 93,000 users' accounts while it figures out how to protect itself. A new security flaw allowed hackers to change the password of the user, where they had to fill in the e-mail address and date of birth of the user. Both are data that were stolen during the first hack. First rumored responsible for this was a bug in the system for the allocation of new passwords. In response reset function of some countries has been turned off. Perhaps, they can establish the security of the network again. Generally there are people who have changed their registration e-mail address at the Playstation Network.

As a result of this incident, the organization's stakeholder's suffered both direct and indirect effects. Exploitation of this information from hackers would allow one to break into other the victims other online accounts, email phishing scams or malware attacks, use one's financial information to commit fraud or other types of identity fraud. Some of the direct effects on the organization's stakeholder's include the cost of implementing the identity theft protection program, promotional packages to win back customers, the loss of customers, damaged reputation, increase in cost related to internal control structure, possible termination of certain executives, and decrease in stock value, to name a few.

Many service users were upset; services were shut down without warning, and then had taken nearly a week to wait for an explanation and justification. The accounts of other users can be stolen. Sony was informed and said in a first reaction that you currently cannot change his password. It was unclear how long this situation will continue. The average cost of a system attack in 2010 was 318 USD per record lost, up 48 percent from a previous year. Sony states that the loss of 101 million records will only cost it 2 USD per ...