Toronto, ON: Sony has announced that personal information for 101 million PlayStation and Qriocity users worldwide, 1 million of which are in Canada, has been hacked. It has been alleged that Sony was aware that such information had been stolen but failed to advise users of PlayStation and Quriocity in a timely fashion. Sony has acknowledged that stolen information may include users' names, addresses (city, province, postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID and user profile data, including purchase and usage history and billing address (city, province, postal code), and the subscriber's PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers. The same data with respect to a dependent may also have been obtained.
Sony has confirmed that some credit card and debit card information was taken, but has not confirmed whether user credit card or debit card information of Canadians was taken.
Sony has acknowledged and apologized for breach. To date, the only compensation Sony has offered is 30 or 60 day free memberships on its PlayStation network, and a "welcome back" program, not yet described for Canadian users.
While Sony has advised American users about the availability of free credit reports, it has yet to advice Canadian users about credit reports.
A proposed class action lawsuit has been commenced against Sony Japan, Sony USA, Sony Canada and other Sony entities ("Sony") for the breach of privacy. The lawsuit claims damages in excess of $1 billion, which includes having Sony pay the costs of credit monitoring services and fraud insurance coverage for two years.
The plaintiff in the action is 21 year old Mississauga resident who has been an avid PlayStation user for years. Natasha Maksimovic said: "If you can't trust a huge multi-national corporation like Sony to protect your private information, who can you trust. It appears to me that Sony focuses more on protecting its games than its PlayStation users."
