Lecture # 9 (Part 2) Sony Reels from Multiple Hacker Attacks

Question 1:

Do some research on the Sony PSN debacle. What are the new cost estimates for the incident? How many customers have left Sony because of the incident? Have there been any reports of fraudulent use of identities obtained from the hack? Has Sony’s PlayStation Network being hacked again?

The costs from the PlayStation Network hack are expected to total $171 million. It was reported that Sony PSN has loses 10% of the existing customers. As at today, there is no any reports of fraudulent use of identities obtained from the hack and no Sony’s PlayStation Network reported being hacked again

Question 2:

Gaming and virtual services on the Internet, like Sony’s PSN, World of Warcraft, and Second Life, boast millions of users. For each user, this service must store credit card information. What must these organizations do to protect the private information of their customers? Is it even reasonable to assume that any organization can have protection measures in place to stop the world’s best hackers?

The organization must have a strong security barrier against the potential hacker or other potential risk. The organization should have a better system and firewall to protect the information. In the meantime, it is not reasonable that to assume that any organization can have protection measures in place to stop the world’s best hackers because we cannot predict when the hackers will attack the system again. No matter how well any protection measures taken, there is a potential risk that the system is being hacked.

Question 3:

If an extremely intelligent hacker is caught by a law enforcement agency, should that hacker be prosecuted and sent to jail? Is there perhaps way that the hacker might be “turned’ for the good of the digital world? What would that be?

Law being law and there is no one can escape once committed a crime, therefore the hacker should deserve the punishment. However, the hacker can be "turned" for the good of the digital by helping organization to strengthen the security system using his/her hacking knowledge. Perhaps, they can join a anti-virus software company make good use of their knowledge.  

Question 4:

Every survey taken of business regarding data breaches has found that many businesses are reluctant to publicly announce a data breach. Further, most business will downplay the significance of the breach. Why do organizations behave like this? What is there to gain by not operating in a transparent fashion? Is this an ethical issue, a legal issue or both?

This is because announcing the breach will affects the business and the customers will loss their confidence to the company's services. Other than covering a problem temporary, there is nothing a company can gain by not operating in a transparent fashion. This matter involved both legal and ethical issue. 

Question 5:

What’s your personal identity theft story? Has someone used your credit card fraudulently? How many phishing emails have you received in the last year? How often do you check your credit card report?

So far there is no any personal identity theft story  experience. As such, no one has used my credit card fraudulently. There are around two or three phishing emails received last year. I will check my credit report twice a year.