By 0320 GMT today, Sony shares were down 4.8 percent, in a broader market up 1.3 percent, whilst Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of network security group The Ponemon Institute (that’s Ponemon) has suggested that the hackers may cost Sony up to $20 for every single PSN user – $1.5 billion in total.
Theses costs are not just from lack of business, they also include bringing in security experts to secure the system, notifying customers and running a massive PR campaign to repair the damage to the brand.
Sony has seen its share value plummet almost 8% in total this week as investors monitor the fall out from the network intrusion.
If you thought Sony were being lackadaisical about the data loss then consider this: any company that loses 8% of its value in seven days will be doing everything possible to stop their market value from dropping even further.
They are going to have to ensure this never happens again which is good news for us, it may be take a while but when the PSN comes back it will be like Fort Knox. Never mind what we think, Sony shareholders will not settle for anything less.
Some people have been suggesting that the hacker will manage to evade prosecution for his/her crimes but if I had a $1.5 billion bounty on my head then I’d be changing my trousers every hour, Sony simply cannot afford for this person to slip away.
Source: Reuters
Erroneus
Well hopefully Sony learns from this. Sometimes companies needs to loose money, before they realize that some things has to be a top priority.
unclebob
Wonder how much potential future revenue they’ve lost too
Although it looks like all the Sony fanboys have not only forgiven them already, but are actively fighting Sony’s corner on this, even against other concerned PS3, Bravia, Blu-ray Player owners, the ramifications for Sony outside this group could last for years.
Think of how Toyota has to rebuild its reputation in the States and what a long road back for them that is, outside of the committed core of fans people will have long memories over this, probably far longer than the many other Sony fiascos including rootkits & exploding batteries. It even took Sony nearly 3 years and an ad-company’s creation of Kevin Butler just to get over the slow, arrogant, partially goofed PS3 pre & post-launch
R4U Eldave0
“Although it looks like all the Sony fanboys have not only forgiven them already, but are actively fighting Sony’s corner on this” judging by some of the comments I’ve read on this site, I would have to agree. I love my PS3 but Sony are dead to me
skibadee
your a fanboy because your not letting all this hype suck you in lol.
yourwifemykids
erroneus got it just right like sony can afford a little loss beef up security make a proper system to protect 77million users and growning i know people are saying well its a free service so we cant moan but we can we have more lag than 360 thats a fact graphics seem to lose to 360 in alot not all cases is 35 pound a year worth hardly no lag better frame rates and i heard off lots of players xbox360 has better functions on the system itself i know people ill say but thy have the red light problem but im on my 3rd ps3 so there hardly built to last so we can moan im not a ps3 or 360 fan boy both good consoles i owned old xbox which i loved and ive been with ps3 for 3 years now and wouldnt be without it sony need to look after us better after all we pay there wages when we buy there consoles
haz360
Wow. That’s some serious cash. Just proves that there’s a lot more at stake than a little bit of PSN downtime for Sony. I’m just hoping that no one’s details get used inappropriately, the PSN comes back online and Sony catch the individual responsible so this whole thing can just blow over…
Foxhound_Solid
I hope it blows over, the PS Brand had a hard time of it and seemed to shake the bad press off, this isnt what they need so heres hoping everything works out well, as the gaming world NEEDS sony. Without Playstation I would defintely, without doubt give up gaming as a full on hobby.
unclebob
Really?
Before it blows over I want to know how well Sony protected my data, if their security was bypassed with ease I’m not sure I’d ever trust them again.
If they truly did do everything they could (the rebuilding of the PSN suggests they didn’t) then I probably could let my head & heart get on board with them again.
I hope we find out, maybe through the hackers leaking just how good or bad Sony are at looking after customers.
Devil2k
Well, I still think that PS2 was the last TRUE console with GREAT games, and nothing in this generation topped it. Makes me sad because I try a lot of new titles and they just don’t bring that fun gameplay I used to experience. Honestly? I’m not holding out for a next generation of consoles.
squashme
after this I can assure you that security will be Sony’s top major priority for the PS4 and of corse the Next Generation Portable (NGP)
TURRICAN-808
@Devil2K
The Sega Deamscast was well ahead if its time. First console to offer on’line gaming over phone lines (Dial-Up). If only the Dreamcast had waited for when broadband was the industry norm!
gideon1451
I’m interested to know who it was who hacked it now. I’d love to see the consequences for them.
skibadee
same here no Xbox for me.
squashme
nothing short of life in prison is what I would settle for
Kitch
All they did was hack a system. 2 years max. Or a big fine.
TROPtastic
And steal about 77 MILLION users’ worth of confidential data. Considering you can be prosecuted quite severely for 1 count of id theft, if this guy gets found out, he’s toast.
ThatBoyTim
Not surprising news at all. I don’t know how these hackers operate but the kudos among his/her peers cannot be worth the pain that Sony and 77 million registered users will bring down!
Foxhound_Solid
I know they cant, If I found out who this person was I would definitely, defintely One grip him and hand him into the law. That dude [if it is a dude] is gonna need some soap on a rope and some serious running shoes as he is a marked man!
Harm Rehal
Agreed
squashme
if the ICO get their way and fine Sony there’s a $2billion bounty on his head and I’m pretty sure Sony would pay the person a hell of a lot money to hand him/her in
unclebob
Wonder how they will calculate loss of consumer trust on top of verifiable financial losses
CrawFail
Exactly. In the long term customer confidence, or lack of it, is going to have a very big effect on the company. From this I think they might have a hard time getting to the number one spot this gen and will trickle into the next gen too and cause them problems there.
Smallville2106
Really hope they catch the person responsible and make an example of him or her.
Kitch
But what about Sony? All the hacker/s did was expose a weakness. You are saying it like this is a one sided battle. Smacks a bit of fanboyism to me.
skibadee
it is breaking the law hope they get found & do many years.
fattyuk
Burn the hacker!!!
cam the man
Hang, draw and quarter would be much better.
Aquastyle
Skin him alive I say.
Bilbo_bobbins
then Set them alight afterwards.
squashme
let the witch trial begin
Sympozium
“Cast him in”
InternationalGamer
So, what seemed to be a normal downtime, turned out to be because PSN was hacked and cost Sony 1.5 billion… yanno, 1.5 billion is a big number.
cam the man
At least we’ve got the comfort of far better security when the PSN comes back online.
TURRICAN-808
Thats the positive return for its customers. I’m hoping for a more organised ‘Account Management’