The millions of Sony users who had their personal and financial information compromised by April’s massive PlayStation Network security breach may not have quite the same jovial outlook on the subject matter as Tim Schaaff, the president of Sony Network Entertainment.
The now-infamous hack that knocked more than 70 million PSN accounts offline for more than a month was a “great experience, [a] really good time,” Schaaff told VentureBeat executive editor Dylan Tweney on Wednesday at the MobileBeat conference in San Francisco.
“A great experience?” Tweney asked, apparently perplexed with the comment. “A great experience,” Schaaf noted yet again, according to PC Magazine.
Schaaf said that the hack has taught Sony some valuable lessons, but not in the way that you would assume. Rather than declaring that the breach has helped Sony identify its many security loopholes, Schaaf said that the company has learned how to properly respond to potential breaches.
“It’s not just about improving your security, because I’ve never talked to a security expert who said, ‘As long you do the following three things you’ll be fine, because hackers won’t get you… the question is how do you build your life so you’re able to cope with those things,” Schaaff told Tweney.
As for the health of Sony – which lost around $170 million from the breach, not to mention the money they cost their publishers – Schaaff said that things have never been better. He told Tweney that both network performance and sales numbers are higher than they have ever been.
Although the last three months have been filled with a myriad of attacks on high-profile organizations – including defense contractors, media companies and government institutions – the Sony breaches may have been the most far-reaching and humiliating of the bunch.
Graham Cluley, of Web security firm Sophos, told the AP last month that any site “worth its salt” should have been prepared to squash the LulzSec attack on SonyPictures.com, which happened more than a month after the PSN breach. He added that Sony is quickly becoming “the whipping boy of the computer underground.”
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It’s also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.
Beecher Tuttle is a TechZone360 contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
