Suit charges Sony breach caused by poor security

Sony has been hit with what could be the first of many lawsuits related to a recently disclosed breach of its PlayStation Network.

Kristopher Johns of Birmingham (AL) filed a lawsuit against Sony in federal court in San Francisco, alleging negligent data security practices, privacy violations and breach of warranty. The lawsuit, which seeks to represent all subscribers to Sony's PlayStation Network and Qriocity service, also accuses Sony of not informing consumers quickly enough about the exposure of their personal account information and credit card data due to the breach. In his complaint, Johns accused Sony of violating the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard by failing to implement a proper firewall and to encrypt card holder data. Sony also violated the standard by retaining card holder data, the lawsuit charged. The company's delay in notifying consumers about the breach significantly heightened the risk that the data would be misused, Johns alleged.