New lawsuit hits Sony, says company ignored security warnings

June 24, 2011 By Jeff Hughes

A new class action lawsuit has been filed against Sony claiming the company knew but didn't care about their weak network security issues.

Sony just can’t catch a break. The company is being hit with another class action lawsuit over the Playstation Network breach in April.

The three men suing Sony say that the network problems centered around laid-off security employees. According to the documents, Sony knew that its security systems were ill-prepared for cyber attacks and this negligence led to the theft of customers’ personal information as well as the month-long PSN blackout.

This new lawsuit was filed earlier this week in the San Diego US District Court and was brought forth by Jimmy Cortorreal, Felix Cortorreal and Jacques Daoud Jr. on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated v. Sony Corporation Inc. et al, No. 11-1369.

The suit, unearthed first by Reuters earlier today, says that Sony Online Entertainment laid off a substantial portion of the workforce just two weeks before the great PSN blackout. This included a bunch of employees in the Network Operations Center who are the ones responsible for resolving security breaches and keeping the security technology sharpened.

The three men also cite confidential witnesses who say that the customer data protection was inadequate. According to the documents, Sony was told repeatedly about security flaws and small-scale attacks before the big breach but the company chose to ignore these warnings.

The lawsuit casts Sony in quite a harsh light by saying, “Sony took numerous precautions and spent lavishly to secure its proprietary development server containing its own sensitive information … but recklessly declined to provide adequate protections for its Customers’ Personal Information.”

The lawsuit claims that after all these problems, there was little surprise when the security breach happened. The men are asking to be reimbursed for their consoles, network fees and more. The free downloads and apology don’t seem to be enough.

Showing 7 comments

Kevin Daniel at 2:48pm 26th June 2011 Stupid sue happy world.
Adam Krant at 11:10am 26th June 2011 There new name will be microsony
Thomas Radke at 10:26am 26th June 2011 Oh man, grabbing the popcorn.
taminar at 11:39pm 25th June 2011 Sony and its customers/members would both be better off if they considered how much they would have to pay out in a class action lawsuit and then divided those tens of millions of dollars (or more) and paid them to those of us who had their personal information breached by the hackers in the form of Sony gift cards. Right now, I'm inclined to join a class action lawsuit, even though I know I'll get (at most) $5, the two or three clients who first called the lawyers will get a few thousand dollars, and the lawyers will get millions. Make it right with more than just a one-year membership with an identity theft company. By the time the hackers got around the stealing the list I'm on, Sony had already been hacked at least twice (as I understand it). They'd had plenty of time to get that information offline or to encrypt it, but they didn't. Sony - save yourself the trouble of a prolonged legal battle and give the money it's going to cost you now to the people that you wronged. We'll all be better off if you do the right thing now.
Brad Nakayama at 2:00pm 25th June 2011 Lawyers are the VULTURES of human society. But, at least VULTURES (real) only prey on the DEAD. Not the LIVING!
davzway at 11:09am 25th June 2011 I buy Sony products and have taken them to task when they don't do what they should regarding their products. That said, a class action lawsuit is nothing more than a pack of lawyers looking for another way to make money; with little or nothing going to the purported litigants. In this case, former employees with an axe to grind. In this case, I hope Sony pounds them into small circuit boards. davzway
1. Ian Bell at 6:28pm 25th June 2011 Agreed. A company should be held responsible when their product fails, but I do think in this case its a bunch of upsets employees with a major axe to grind.