29/04 Sony slow over breach / Firm took week to announce leak of users' info

Yu Toda and Taro Koyano / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

Sony Corp. has come under fire for waiting a week before announcing that the personal information of users of its game services may have been leaked.

The incident has the potential to derail the company's overall business strategy because online businesses are expected to figure substantially as a source of Sony's future revenue.

The services involved are the PlayStation Network (PSN) and Qriocity, a music and movies distribution service. PSN is operated by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE), Sony's subsidiary for game businesses.

About 77 million users worldwide have registered for the two services. As of Wednesday, details such as hacker intrusion routes and actual damages were not known.

Sony shut down the network on April 20, (April 21 in Japan), but did not announce the hacking and possible leakage of personal information until Tuesday.

SCE said some online services would restart in about a week but it was undecided when services would fully resume.

Posters to PSN's bulletin board were critical of Sony for its delay in announcing the breach.

U.S. media also reported the incident as major news.

Reuters said a reluctance to quickly disclose unfavorable information existed in Japanese corporate culture and cited Tokyo Electric Power Co. as a poor example of information disclosure.

The Wall Street Journal's online edition said the breach may represent one of the largest Internet security break-ins ever.

To compete with rivals such as Apple Inc. of the United States and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., Sony had pledged to integrate its hardware and software businesses to differentiate its products and services.

Sony had strengthened alliances between its group companies' assets--such as game, music and movie software services--and online distribution businesses.

Currently, revenue from online businesses account for less than 1 percent of Sony's consolidated sales.

But online businesses are essential for Sony to compete with its international rivals, and on Tuesday the company announced the release of a new tablet personal computer incorporating its online services.

Koyano is a correspondent in New York.

(Apr. 29, 2011)