260°

Sony's Insurers to Help Foot Bill for Data Breach, Could Exceed $2 Billion

Sony is looking to its insurers to help cover the cost of cleaning up a data breach that exposed the names of more than 100 million customers, an amount that one expert estimates could exceed $2 billion.

rabidpancakeburglar4756d ago

OHHH NOOO!!! I'll believe it when the accounts come out

Organization XII4756d ago ShowReplies(4)
Dante1124756d ago

Damn, guess Sony will one up Microsoft for the 1 billion it had to pay for the RROD situation (3 year warranty) if true.

Shadow Flare4756d ago

Except this is sonys insurers that would be paying, not Sony. Microsoft had to pay their $1 billion. Knowingly selling a product with an atrocious failure rate vs being attacked by hackers. Sony was the victim, Microsoft was the culprit

Dante1124756d ago

Oh, my bad. Glad to hear that actually.

moparful994756d ago

Again these are ESTIMATIONS based on if anything of value was taken... SO far there has been not a single drop of evidence that anyones credid cards have been hit with fraudulent charges as a result of this breach... Once again these news agencies are using sensationalism to appeal to peoples basic instincts so they click that link... This is nowhere near as bad as all of these reporters would have you believe because "safe" doesn't generate buzz or hits to websites.... Ignore/move along/ nothing to see here

ASSASSYN 36o4756d ago

@Shadow you can't read. It clearly says Help Foot the bill in the title. No company is immune to paying something along with the insurer. They very well may have a deductible also. "They are not going to be completely unscathed," said Etti Baranoff, professor of insurance at Virginia Commonwealth University. "No matter what, their insurance rates are going to go up."

Damn did you even bother to read the article?'And if you never had insurance (which I suspect is the case) you missed a great opportunity to learn something.

Shadow Flare4756d ago

The internets such a friendly place. Thanks assasin360 I did read the article. I guess I must have whizzed past a bunch of it by accident when I was scrolling down on my phone. I guess Sony will be paying some of the costs and they're trying to see if their insurance can help cover the costs. Hopefully the insurance will help cover most of the damages

thats_just_prime4756d ago

$ony fucks up and then try to stick someone with the bill for their mistakes

rockleex4755d ago

thats_just_prime probably has no idea how insurance works.

Heck, banks even have insurance in case they ever get robbed.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4755d ago
M-Easy4756d ago

Wow so now there's 100 million users now? $2 Billion to fix lmao. Its funny how before this happened the haters said nobody used the PS3 now there are 100 million users omg I hate gaming "journalism."

I love how there's 100 million users now but when this dies down next week it will be back to the old trolling of no one is on psn, that's why I play my games on other systems, more community smh...

-Alpha4756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

I don't see what fanboys say about PSN online has to do with this, unless you are implying that this site is a fanboy website that has said "PSN has no online" In which case, you are wrong because it's a general news website that hasn't bothered to make fanboy opinion pieces.

The 100 million sounds like an oversight-- a lot of websites are misinformed on it but likely it's going unnoticed because it's not the main part of what is being reported, in this case that insurers are helping to pay the bill.

I don't think the number of users means much anymore as it did when originally reported (before Sony gave the official number themselves), but it's definitely not accurate, nor is it central to what is being reported here, so you will have to forgive the mistake

M-Easy4756d ago

Yeah but if they can't get a simple fact right (off by 23 million by the highest estimates) then why in the world would you believe anything else they have to say. In my business once you're established to be a liar or incompetent then everything you say is null. Like this opinion piece masqueraded as an "article."

-Alpha4756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

Edit: Nevermind, Max below got it. It includes SOE users. Forgot about that.

Thanks, Max. Like Max says, this includes all Sony customers, not just PSN users

Max_Dissatisfaction4756d ago

77 million PSN user accounts, 24 million SOE accounts. Total 101 million user accounts. Keep up

M-Easy4756d ago

SOE numbers included in the inflated PSN numbers. Slow down. Of those 24m SOE only 900 had active CCs, the active number of PSN has not been disclosed as far as I know.

-Alpha4756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

If those numbers were inflated, they were inflated by Sony themselves

In fact, by Kaz himself:

http://www.flickr.com/photo... (Read #5)

Notice this includes Qriocity users as well. So either Sony inflates the numbers themselves, in which case you cannot blame the news, or the number includes Qriocity, SOE, and PSN users, in which case the article is still right.

Again, it's not the central point here, nor does it make a large difference, and calling it a fanboy site/bringing up fanboy arguments serves no purpose here.

baodeus4756d ago

so Ps3 sold about 50million, but here u said they have 100million PSN users. So i'm guessing that everyone have 2 accounts on average?

mrv3214756d ago

So someone else preforms an illegal action and the victim are footing the bill.

Justice.

gamingdroid4756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

That is how society rewards individuals.

You are poor, don't work? Here is unemployment!

Poor you! Got screwed during the mortgage crisis because you couldn't flip your house? Maybe you overextended your loan and got that nice TV? Here is a handout!

You work? You paid your mortgage on-time? Here is increased taxes b!tches!!!

It's wealth redistribution from the upper middle class, because the barrier to being upper middle class is now lower middle class! Enjoy!!!

Do you see a parallel? People that do stupid sh!t and expect others to clean up for them.

Seraphemz4756d ago

Someones got some pent up issues...lol

sleepy34756d ago

I don't think its fair to lump all poor unemployed people into a category of people etting what they should not. Sure, some of them maybe are lazy about finding a job but there are a LOT, as in MILLIONS of people pounding the pavement evryday trying to get a job who were not as lucky as you to have money as a kid growing up to afford a console or a PC, even to put food on the table every night.

Don't sit all high and mighty in your air conditioned comfort with your bigget worry being when PSN is coming back and call poor people lazy.

Poor uneducated people did get screwed over by banks offering them loans they could not afford and did not understand. They were millions of poor people taken advantage of by greedy banks offering 'introductory rates.'

Maybe you should take this time that PSN is down to go do some charity work with the less fortunate and listen to them and see what these people go through and see how much they DO want to work. Some of them even work 2 jobs and STILL cant feed their kids cause they got screwed by banks tricking them into buying a house they could not afford when the rates went up. Go do some charity work and listen for a change before you judge.

gamingdroid4756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

Actually, I grew up pretty poor as my parents were refugees. We were on welfare for a long time and I quickly learned with "the right" hard work you get rewarded.

The issue I'm having is people "feel" like they got screwed over by banks. That's BS! The terms are on the table, if you don't understand it don't sign it!

If people work, then they aren't unemployed? Which is the ones I'm talking about. Most of the time the job isn't good enough for them. Hunger is a good motivator....

Also, I was involved in clothing recycling that would pay $12/hour tax free cash mind you to the homeless to help move some stuff. You know what they did? Refused!

They are homeless because they didn't want to work. Now I did see a lot of homeless people that had mental issues, and that is an entirely different issue that I can respect.

But since you are such a nice person, why don't you give up gaming sell all your stuff and give it to the poor and needy. I'm sure they will extend a hand and ask for more!

I would rather give to third world countries before I feed these parasites.

sleepy34756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

You grew up poor, you made it, and now you say "screw the poor"

Good Job. You deserve a cookie. What a great person you are.

Here, have a tax break.

You should maybe move to Monaco or somewhere else that there aren't any poor people to annoy you. That way you can keep all of your money to yourself and not have any pesky less fortunate to help.

gamingdroid4756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

No!

This is the reason I love the US, it is the land of opportunities. There is almost no other country in the world that rewards opportunity as much as the US.

I vote for opportunity not free handouts after YOU SCREW UP! If you screw up, take responsibility and don't blame others. The hallmark of maturity.

However, I'm pretty sure you would change your tune once you start seeing other people eating out of your lunch for free.

That said, your entire argument has now turned into "you are such a great person....".

Oh, btw I wouldn't exactly say I made it. I make a modest living, but don't blame people richer than me for how poor I am.

BabyTownFrolics4756d ago

land of opportunity yes, equal opportunity no

gamingdroid4756d ago

True to some degree, but then again there is never equality ever.

I'm more likely to succeed in the US with hard work (with few exceptions of emerging and high growth nations) than any other country.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4756d ago
sleepy34756d ago

You ARE aware that this is how the world works right?

Your taxpayers dollars had to pay to bail out companies that did shady accounting and lost all your savings.

BP had to pay for the sloppy work done by a contractor firm.

At the end of the day, someone has to be responsible for protection.

If anything, be happy that Sony so far has been the bigger man and not play all high and mighty saying, "Don't blame us, blame anon, we are blameless here."
No, they came out, admitted they didn't take their security seriously enough by saying even though the world knew of the vulnerability, they were not convinced of it. They are doing what they can to right any damages, including taking a hit financially. They should be commended for that.

In the same way BP should be commended for their handling of the spill aftermath (the fund set up and so on), and MS should be commended for taking a billion dollar write off to replace people's 360's free of charge.

I like to see companies with dignity, and in this case, Sony is one in my eyes. Sure, they should have warned people about the CC stuff earlier, but at least they actually did and didn't try to cover it up like a certain car company that covered up the fact that their brakes are trying to kill you.

gamingdroid4756d ago (Edited 4756d ago )

"No, they came out, admitted they didn't take their security seriously enough by saying even though the world knew of the vulnerability, they were not convinced of it."

What is there to be convinced about? You should really ask yourself why Sony is running un-patched software and leaving systems without firewalls. Refusing to be "convinced" of vulnerabilities despite the threats.

Now did Sony get their due just? Yes, I think they are being harshly criticized, but they are not "the bigger man" here. They are partly self-victimized.

About BP, yes they should have been lynched, but instead Obama didn't do jack squat! He was too busy giving tax payers money.

I believe that they didn't find jack squat wrong with Toyota brakes. Out of the millions sold, they only had like several thousand cases that was skewed towards the elderly. That was most likely the government wanting the competition to die down a little for their new found company GM!

source: http://finance.yahoo.com/ne...

Raven_Nomad4756d ago

Jesus, Sony is like the Buffalo Bills of the 1990's, just cant win.

4756d ago
cochise3134756d ago

Sony will come back stronger than ever after the network is back up. I bet they completely overhauled it.

moparful994756d ago

I have a feeling that once the psn servers come back online there will be so much buzz about it that they will see increased activity and maybe even greater sales then pre breach.... All of this publicity may prove to be a good thing in the end, sucks it comes off the heels of a crappy situation like the psn breach.... But oh well can't wait to get back online!!

Show all comments (54)
150°

Sony Patents To Prevent You From In-Game Harassment By Reading Your Emotions

A new patent recently published by Sony wants to gather biometric data of gamers to track whether one is being harassed using AI tools.

Profchaos17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

I hope this is one of those patents that never comes to fruition.

I already dislike the fact you can pay a significant amount for a online service buy associated games and content on said service and get banned from that service over potentially a misunderstanding the bans are already handed out for flimsy reasons

I'd rather see money invested in a ban that simply removes the offensive players ability to communicate with unknown players allow them to continue party chats with friends but not with Joe blow on cod.

exputers17d ago

Agreed. Blizzard recently banned a college Overwatch 2 player who's dependent for saying "shit." Pretty harsh.

Profchaos17d ago (Edited 17d ago )

How rediculas really. You can't say a word that's allowed in most PG films and prime time TV but the game is based around killing the enemy team using guns, explosives etc.

It's just backwards.

just_looken17d ago

What your talking about is called block list

In 2006 a spaceship dropped of the playstation 3/xbox 360 i say that that generation was the last great gen with game functions/tech that has yet to comeback

Anyhow the playstation 3 if you block listed a id they could not talk to you in chatroom with either text or voice. But that was pre mind fucked 2018 when people were more human than sheep.

But hey gta 6 is coming out billion dollar budget without a single player custom character creator and without singeplayer coop off/online something saints row 1-3 had on the xbox 360.

z2g17d ago

Take my social security and bank account numbers too! Here’s a picture of my wife and our address.

phoenixwing17d ago

Cmon where's the pictures of your children. Don't hold out on them.

H917d ago

At this rate I feel Sony will eventually sell a room to play games in it where they can monitor your every breath

jambola17d ago

I genuinely get a bit worried sometimes when a friend says something that could be offensive In a party
Because I have no trouble believing some bans would happen when in a private party for saying something wrong

SegaSaturn66917d ago

I want them to censor erotic content by measuring my groin temperature so i dont get too distracted while playing black ops 2.

Popsicle17d ago

Terrible idea. Not only do I not consent to providing my biometric data, the potential for mishandling biometric data is almost a certainty. Positive stress and negative stress can produce similar changes in biometrics. Interpreting the precise emotion a person is feeling is not only invasive but could be easily misconstrued. I hope this never comes to fruition.

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130°

Sony Could Increase Your Game's Difficulty If It Sees You Complain About It

Sony has recently published a new patent that wants to dynamically handle the games' difficulty and gameplay based on the player's emotions.

jznrpg18d ago

This is something I might use. Sometimes I play some good games but they don’t have difficulty option and are a little too easy.

Profchaos18d ago

Souls games will be like that players struggling make it harder

PassNextquestion18d ago (Edited 18d ago )

I think if used correctly it could work well

jambola17d ago

cool idea
cool idea for horror games especially
the way it's explained here sounds like it could never be forced hopefully, so that's ok with me

Show all comments (8)
280°

Sony Taps Bungie's Head of Revenue to Lead Live-Service Games

Sony has recruited Bungie's head of revenue Jaremy Rich to head up its live-service gaming division, Rich has announced on social media.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
ChasterMies38d ago

Please do not put Destiny’s monetization into Sony’s first party games. The monetization is what’s driving players away from Destiny.

just_looken38d ago

The new temp boss is the sony cfo bean counter so i can see this being a thing get every penny.

Cacabunga38d ago

PlayStation officially losing it.. fans will never support gaas games

just_looken38d ago

@car

The new boss did a interview in japan he wants to tap into the mobile market like nintendio so he give 0 fucks about gamers/fans

https://www.pushsquare.com/...

Redemption-6438d ago

@Cacabunga
You only speak for you and those who think like you, but most fans will support what they want. Playstation and PC fans are literally supporting Helldivers 2 and that is a gaas. Maybe you wouldn't, but many more would if they like it.

Huey_My_D_Long38d ago

@Redemption-64
Look, Im not making any judgement calls about this guy, but I will say that Helldivers 2 GaaS model is unique to Helldivers, and legit the only other game I can think of thats similiar was the Avengers game except HD2 pass is still better.
The fact that you can earn in game currency in a way that doesnt make you feel like you have to grind forever, as well you being able work on that pass that you bought...on your own time without a time limit...that right there is fucking huge to me, and I can't name any game other than avengers that avoided trapping players with FOMO logic...I think GaaS on HD2 shouldn't be compared to the rest of the industry...it should be copied.

Einhander197238d ago

Cacabunga

Helldivers 2...

Redemption-64

In Europe it's a 60 40 split favoring PC.
In the US its a 60 40 split favoring PS5.

So PlayStation owners supported the game just fine, it's not getting carried by PC or anything like that.

FinalFantasyFanatic37d ago

@just_looken,
I'm perfectly fine with the way Nintendo entered the mobile market, I never touched their mobile games, meanwhile, the console/handheld stayed the way it is. As for being a bean counter, he's probably going to reel in these massive budgets that Sony's studios have had lately, I haven't played Spiderman 2, but I cannot see how they almost tripled the budget for that game.

@Redemption-64,
That's an exception to the rule, I'm expecting a lot of these GAAS games from Sony to fail, to be fair, they only need a few to succeed, but I would have preferred that they put more of their resources into other types of games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 37d ago
DivineHand12538d ago

True their monetization is driving players away and at the same time, their decision to chop out content and convoluted systems is keeping new players away from the game.

Joe91338d ago

I don't think that will happen based on how things worked out at Naughty Dog now that we know what we do, seems they had the option to fully commit to live service games or stay making single player experences so they gave up on their live service game. We are not sure how things came about with Bend making a live service game but I hope that was not a forced situation. Sony doesnt seem like they are forcing studios to switch up but we will see, Sony's bread and butter is single player games it is how they dominated the console market.

Obscure_Observer38d ago

Yeah, I though Sony learned something from all their failures in the LS segment under Bungie´s disastrous leadership and supervision which led to games been cancelled, studios closed and all the people laid off.

Looks like Bungie still plays a major role in Sony´s LS initiative and Sony is not backtracking on their GaaS plans.

S2Killinit38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

Are we forgetting that Destiny is also a highly successful franchise? I feel like that definitely deserves mention here.

Besides, there is no reason why a person cant learn from past experiences.

Joe91337d ago

I agree, people act as if Destiny flopped when it came out lol it took 9 to 10 years for the numbers to fall yet people are still playing it add the success of Helldivers 2 no wonder Sony is going forward down this path.

S2Killinit37d ago

Personally, I see no problem with Sony also having service games as long as they make good ones, and more importantly they deliver the AAA story driven games that they are known for. So yeah, I agree 100% with you.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 37d ago
Christopher38d ago

I mean, this person made some pretty bad decisions at Bungie. I hope they've learned from them because I definitely don't see those type of ideas as good for PlaySation in general.

CrimsonWing6937d ago (Edited 37d ago )

Honestly, what’s to learn from? How to make people happily continuously dump money into a single game over its life-time? Buy season passes continuously for several years with a smile on our faces?

GaaS is a design decision that is everything wrong with this industry. The fact that Helldivers 2 did so well and people defend the monetization because it was $40 and is a fun game, scares the sh*t out of me to see that the door is open and all shift will probably be to replicate that in future games. We already know the ROI for traditional game dev cost isn’t doing it for them.

I thought with Jimbo leaving we’d see a change for the better… I’m not so sure now.

S2Killinit37d ago

Service games are being offered by everyone. Sony cannot afford to only create single player AAA games. No one can. They already said they will be doing both.

Abnor_Mal38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

Ps5 gamers in 2023 seemed to play more live service types of games, so regardless to how people feel about them, numbers don’t lie and Sony is going where the money is. I mean look at the excitement around Helldivers2, people are showing that they want live service games.

Christopher38d ago

They play long-time existing live service games like CoD, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny 2, and the like. Mass majority of new live service games are considered failures and aren't moving gamers away from older games.

just_looken38d ago

Yep the huge issue with live service is they need paid players along with a reason to play them.

You forgot mobile market that also taps into that player base as well as the eve online style games there is only a certain amount of krakens/whales blind supporters compared to the amount of live service games we have its not sustainable math wise.

700 restaurants making food for every seat for 1000-3000 eaters just does not work out

Einhander197238d ago (Edited 38d ago )

Christopher

I am not a big live service fan and literally own zero of the games you listed, but that is not true, unless you call games that aren't the top games to be failures.

There are tons of live service games that are profitable.

Games don't have to be the biggest game ever they just need to make more than they cost.

I challenge you to show professionally prepared data that shows that more live service games fail than make enough to keep going.

Because all the data that I have seen shows that live service is less of a gamble than making a big AAA budget game which needs to survive off retail sales.

FinalFantasyFanatic37d ago

I sometimes wonder if we're at saturation point, where it's hard for a new game to join those ranks unless it's particularly exceptional, people only have so much time and money to devote to these types of games.

romulus2338d ago

Correction, they have no issue playing good live service games

shinoff218338d ago

Lol it's not even a quarter of the ps5s sold. Helldivers may have been a hit but let's not say most are enjoying it because truth is most(the real most ) don't care about it.

S2Killinit37d ago (Edited 37d ago )

I play what is fun. If a live service game is good I’ll play it as long as its not a money scheme which Helldivers is not.

And Im a single player gamer.

mastershredder38d ago

How do you kill a franchise that already been killed?
Destiny’s grind, cash-in-on-playbass-cha-Ching, and pop-culture-insertion mainstream-me-too bs totally killed any rep Bungie had. Sony/Bungie, if you are doing this to ward-off players, it’s already working.

crazyCoconuts38d ago

Headline truncated:
"... off a cliff"

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