Sony Slapped With $390,000 U.K. Data Breach Fine

Sony's European arm has been dealt a harsh punishment by the U.K.'s data privacy czar for poor protection of its customer's privacy:a punishing $390,000 (£250,000) fine.In 2011, due to ahack of its PlayStation Networkonline gaming community's database, 77 million customers' personal details were exposed. The cyber housebreakers were able to get away with customers' payment card details, names, postal and email addresses,dates of birth, and account passwords. In the U.K., about three million bank customers had to change their account details and obtain new credit cards, it has beenreported.
Two years later, the U.K. Information Commissioner -- the official watchdog for privacy and data security -- has decided the breach was due to poor IT security by Sony and has decided to teach it a lesson.It busted the company under the U.K.'s 1998 Data Protection Act, after its investigators decided the attack could have been prevented ifnetwork software had been up to date. It also believes the way Sony Entertainment Europe had set up user passwords was not sufficiently secure.