Sony has been in the news lately not because of an innovative new product, but rather due to hackers’ exploitation of Sony customers’ personal information.
Sony is the maker of the popular video-game console PlayStation 3. Most gamers with a PlayStation 3 join the PlayStation Network so that they are able to buy games online and play video-games with other gamers from all over the world.
In joining the PlayStation network, users provide their personal information such as name, address, gender, date of birth and credit card information.
Between April 16th and April 19th of this year, hackers breached Sony Corporation’s online entertainment networks. As many as 100 million Sony customers now run the risk that these hackers have their personal information. This includes customers of Sony’s PlayStation Network, Sony Online Entertainment and Qriocity film and music service.
Soon after the hackers attacked, Sony released a statement to its users that “There is no evidence that our main credit card database was compromised.” Sony says it had encrypted customers’ credit card numbers with security that would make codes difficult to read by hackers. There have yet to be reports from credit card issuers of wide-scale fraud from the attack.
Thus, while it seems that for now, users’ credit card information may be safe, users still run the risk that these hackers may use their personal information to steal their identity. This risk will unfortunately likely stay with these gamers for years to come.
This criminal defense attorney thinks this is a good example of remembering the importance of privacy in an age where we share almost everything via the internet. Whether its posting pictures on facebook or giving our personal information to a company, when we put our information out into the universe of the internet, that information may be used in ways we did not intend.