Sony estimates hack cost at $171M

Sony has revised its fiscal year forecasts today, including a $171 million hit to operating income from the PSN/SOE hacks, and $1.8 billion due to the Japanese earthquake.

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Sony has revised its fiscal year forecasts today, accounting for recent market shifters like the network hacks and Japanese earthquake. "As of today, our current associated costs [related to the PSN/SOE hack] for the fiscal year ending March 2012 are estimated to be approximately 14 billion yen [$171.4 million*] on the consolidated operating income level," reads the investor call script. The estimated cost includes identity theft programs, the Welcome Back program, customer support, security improvements, legal experts, and revenue decreases.

The estimate warns that while it hasn't received any confirmed reports of identity theft or credit card fraud, those "key variables" could impact the costs. The company also isn't including the possible costs of the class action lawsuits, since the suits are so early and estimating the outcome would be difficult.

The impact of the Japanese earthquake is more severe, with Sony estimating a 150 billion yen ($1.83 billion) hit to operating income for FY2012, with an additional 17 billion yen ($208.1 million) in the fiscal year that ended in March. This is due to a new life insurance policy provision, decreased sales, and "idle facility costs at manufacturing sites." The latter point stands out, since Sony's Jack Tretton implied that the upcoming NGP may not launch in all territories this year due to quake damage -- a comment that was quickly denied by a Sony spokesperson.

Sony also has to repair some machinery, equipment, and buildings, totaling roughly 11 billion yen ($134.6 million), but expects almost all of the costs to be recovered by their insurance policies.

* currency exchange based on Google conversion at the time of publishing.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 23, 2011 10:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Sony estimates hack cost at $171M.

    Sony has revised its fiscal year forecasts today, including a $171 million hit to operating income from the PSN/SOE hacks, and $1.8 billion due to the Japanese earthquake.

    • reply
      May 23, 2011 10:57 AM

      and how much is it going to cost the people who's identities have been stolen?

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        May 23, 2011 11:08 AM

        I guess as a poor person it's hard for me to give a dookie about this identity theft crybabiness. Maybe I'd be more empathetic if I had a credit-score to ruin or a bank account worth looting.

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          May 23, 2011 11:12 AM

          If someone gets a hold of your financials, it won't matter how bad it is NOW, it'll matter in a few years when you're trying to purchase a house, or finance a car. THEN you're f00ked

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          May 23, 2011 11:16 AM

          Since it's never happened to most people, everybody always says "what's the big deal about identity theft? LMAO all u Sony crybabies. GET OVER IT"

          Well, a co-worker told me the ins and outs of his experience with identity theft and it sounds like a goddamn nightmare. Not only did it ruin his credit, but took him YEARS to clear his name and all the hassle that goes with it.

          When Mom's credit card was the one on PSN, who cares right?

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            May 23, 2011 11:43 AM

            Hur hur, I don't share yer opinion so I must be a child.

            I didn't say get over it to everyone else, I said I find it hard to empathize. It was a blank statement. I'm not afraid of Identity Theft, so I don't know why everyone else is scared of it. Period. You are trying to argue against my -opinion-. And it's on the internet. That's double stupid.

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              May 23, 2011 11:51 AM

              not knowing why people are afraid of identity theft is stupid in and of itself.

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                May 23, 2011 1:59 PM

                D. Someone posted an idiotic declaration (It's right up there along with "THINK OF THE CHILDREN"), and I posted about my apathy regarding the entire situation and all the rampant butthurt going around.

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              May 23, 2011 1:17 PM

              A. You can't empathize. Might be a sociopath.
              B. You didn't try to understand what it might be like before declaring how you can't empathize, like we give a shit.
              C. You are too simple to understand what it might be like, and therefore can't empathize.

              Pick one.

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              May 23, 2011 1:26 PM

              [deleted]

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                May 23, 2011 2:00 PM

                Are you comparing having someone charging a few thousand dollars in online porn to your credit card to being a starving African villager? Really? Really man?

                Haha, First-World problems.

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                  May 23, 2011 2:08 PM

                  Missing the point again fool

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                    May 23, 2011 2:10 PM

                    No, I get the point, but you can't call me out for hyperbole and then do it yourself.

                    I was saying I wasn't scared of credit fraud, cause hey, how much poorer can I get? It was hyperbole. And they want to get their panties in a twist about it.

                    So I called him out on comparing credit card fraud to life-altering tragedies. Do you get this? Are you following along? The bouncing ball onscreen?

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                May 23, 2011 2:17 PM

                yeah but when people complain that you stated your lack of ability to empathize you can make the accusation that they are now "butt hurt"

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                  May 23, 2011 2:20 PM

                  They have to be if they felt the need to call me out for making a joke about how poor I was.

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                    May 23, 2011 2:27 PM

                    why would they be butt hurt? People just enjoy pointing out someone else's mistake or how stupid someone else is. People love to correct other people. In this case they are correcting you. It can give a sense of superiority or can just be fun if you're bored. It is possible some people are offended by your lack of shock and awe from identity theft but I bet they are just calling you out because it feels good to correct someone when they are wrong.

                    I would bet money they are not butt hurt.

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                      May 23, 2011 2:30 PM

                      You can't correct a self-deprecating joke. You can say it's not funny, but you can't correct it. Well, unless they told the joke wrong.

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                        May 23, 2011 2:41 PM

                        This was a joke?

                        I guess as a poor person it's hard for me to give a dookie about this identity theft crybabiness. Maybe I'd be more empathetic if I had a credit-score to ruin or a bank account worth looting.

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                          May 23, 2011 2:44 PM

                          Yes. Did the inclusion of the words "dookie" and "crybabinesS" and "loot" not give it away? Or the part about me calling myself so desperately poor that identity theft is not a threat? I didn't know those were things people normally just say.

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                            May 23, 2011 2:47 PM

                            When none of us "got" your joke, perhaps the problem isn't on our end...

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                              May 23, 2011 2:49 PM

                              Well, I count about...hmmm..just seven of you who were unable to grasp it, out of however many shackers actually read the post. I'd the people who "Got" that it was just a joke far outnumber you magnificent samurai.

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                              May 23, 2011 2:51 PM

                              Let him keep backtracking. It's more entertaining

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                      May 23, 2011 5:18 PM

                      i like this response

                      people love pointing out other peoples mistakes. be it Sonys or some random person on the internet.

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              May 23, 2011 2:10 PM

              I didn't say you specifically were a child. It was a blank statement.

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                May 23, 2011 2:12 PM

                You were obviously pointing that statement at me. Damn, I think the only person who even got the joke and isn't a complete aspie in this thread is the guy I originally replied to.

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              May 23, 2011 2:17 PM

              [deleted]

        • reply
          May 23, 2011 11:59 AM

          Unless you are some homeless dude who lives in a van down by the river (and who apparently shacks at an Internet cafe with the money from turning tricks)... and you plan on being a homeless dude who lives down by the river for the rest of your natural life... you SHOULD be worried about identity theft. It's a very bad thing.

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            May 23, 2011 12:17 PM

            Yup. Even some employers are doing credit checks before hiring. Not to mention most major purchases are tied to credit checks.

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              May 23, 2011 2:28 PM

              employers doing credit checks? That's gotta be discrimination

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                May 23, 2011 2:30 PM

                Nope, it's perfectly legal. it's used as a gauge of the potential employee's personal responsibility.

                And it's total bullshit.

                One good illness can kill your credit with medical bills in this country. I've seen it happen.

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                May 23, 2011 2:34 PM

                it isn't race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, veteran status, or genetic information, so it isn't protected under employment anti-discrimination laws

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          May 23, 2011 2:00 PM

          As someone in a wheelchair, I really don't care if your feet get eaten by a dog.

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        May 23, 2011 1:24 PM

        I'm not really sure what they could do with your name and address. That's not really identity theft since that information is available for anyone listed in the yellow pages. There still hasn't been any reports of credit card fraud sourced from the PSN break in and all of the intrusion analysis that has been released so far have been stating no credit card information was gained from the PSN intrusion.

        I was sort of freaking out about the personal information leak through PSN but when I thought about it, they really cannot do anything with the information entered in PSN unless they get your credit card info. People seem to be treating this like they also got your SSN or something.

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      May 23, 2011 1:35 PM

      So much wasted money on these dirt bag losers that want to destroy everything.... No bodies CC info is going to be used because they never got those numbers so stfu starting rumors again....

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      May 23, 2011 2:35 PM

      This on top of the PS3 itself .... man Sony wth.

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      May 23, 2011 4:43 PM

      Dailytech had a much better article on this:

      http://www.dailytech.com/Sony+Appears+to+Have+Lost+Yet+Another+User+Database/article21697.htm

      Quoting from the article:

      "The company say its expects only to have to pay ¥14B (about $172M USD) for the PSN intrusion. This puts its expected expense per lost record at about $2 USD per account."

      The article mentions that the industry average for similar data breaches is $318 per user. The $2 estimate Sony went public with is probably meant to calm their stock holders. Regardless, when Sony told you that your personal info was lost and the burden of credit protection and safeguards against identify theft was ultimately on you, that you were basically on your own, they really meant it.

    • reply
      May 24, 2011 10:35 PM

      Please SUPPORT SONY for buying any game or accessories which makes more profits on Sony! :)

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