Fourteen Potential Problems for Sony to Clean up Post the DataBreach

The Sony Playstation Breach is the second largest in history. Let us not forget that the company is also a victim as were many of its customers. I am sure it will do its best to make amends and preserve its reputation. I was touched by its senior executives bowing to apologize, and to be brutally honest we all know that luck was against them. I am not condoning that there were large gaps and a certain lack of security mindset which needs to be corrected. Many analysts have estimated the potential cost of fixing the breach in wide ranging estimates from 1.5 to 24 billion US dollars in terms of lost business and to sort out consumer and political issues.

Looking forward, I attempted to list the several challenges Sony faces as an outcome of the breach:

• Dissatisfied customers who are victims of lost personal data, exposure to potential fraud and loss of service. In addition these customers have to go through the pain of cancelling credit cards, resting passwords on their accounts and in future will surely experience a rise in spam mail.
• Class Action Suits filed in US courts
• Loss of reputation worldwide on all consumer brands
• Revenue loss due to service downtime, possible penalties, settlements and customer compensations or refunds
• Challenges in securely resetting the passwords of 77 million people
• Uncertainty of the extent of the intrusion and on removal of all potential malware vectors prior to relaunch
• Faced with too short a time to assess and remediate vulnerabilities. If the system has not been securely evaluated in the past, the problem will be acute
• Facing a shortage of key staff that understand security and can be quickly pulled in to sort the problem
• PR staff faces a new and difficult situation, particularly while making further disclosures as the extent of the breach is uncovered.
• Loss of customers
• Anxiety over a second attack
• Pressure from the Government and fielding questions from key policy makers in various countries
• Dealing with different governments, privacy laws and customer across 60 countries
• Politically and socially unfavorable at home, as Japan is emerging from a natural calamity