U.S. Senator Calls Out Sony

As everyone is well aware of, sometime last week Playstation Network was hacked causing a massive leak of information including credit cards and personal details. So when Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal heard of the news, he sent a letter to Sony about the breach of security and how they could have handled it better. The entire letter can be found on his website, but in brief he asks some tough questions. “I am troubled by the failure of Sony to immediately notify affected customers of the breach and to extend adequate financial data security protections,” says Blumenthal. He continues to call out Sony and make suggestions as to what they should do now:

A breach of such a widely used service immediately raises concerns of data privacy, identity theft, and other misuse of sensitive personal and financial data, such as names, email addresses, and credit and debit card information.

When a data breach occurs, it is essential that customers be immediately notified about whether and to what extent their personal and financial information has been compromised. Additionally, PlayStation Network users should be provided with financial data security services, including free access to credit reporting services, for two years, the costs of which should be borne by Sony. Affected individuals should also be provided with sufficient insurance to protect them from the possible financial consequences of identity theft.

I am concerned that PlayStation Network users’ personal and financial information may have been inappropriately accessed by a third party. Compounding this concern is the troubling lack of notification from Sony about the nature of the data breach. Although the breach occurred nearly a week ago, Sony has not notified customers of the intrusion, or provided information that is vital to allowing individuals to protect themselves from identity theft, such as informing users whether their personal or financial information may have been compromised. Nor has Sony specified how it intends to protect these consumers.

Personally Im glad to see that someone in some sort of position to do something has decided to take a stance on such a large issue that has the potential to ruin people’s lives with identity theft. Hopefully Sony takes some of these words to heart but I doubt that they will be paying for credit checks for the next two years.

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