In 2011, Sony PSN network was compromised by Anonymous hackers, in which users’ account names, birth dates, email addresses and credit card numbers being placed at risk.
After the network was compromised, it was down for several days, and more than 77 million user accounts on the PSN network being compromised.
After that incident, Sony apologized about the hack and announced “Welcome Back” package full of older, free games for PSN users, but this wasn’t enough for some.
Last year, the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office fined Sony £250,000 ($425,397) for the “serious breach of the Data Protection Act” due to the account information leak, and said it “could have been prevented.”
Now, Sony has agreed to a preliminary settlement worth $15 million in a class action lawsuit over the PSN hack in 2011.
In a statement to GameSpot, Sony explained that it reached a settlement to avoid the costs associated with fighting the lawsuit. “While we continue to deny the allegations in the class action lawsuits, most of which had been previously dismissed by the trial court, we decided to move forward with a settlement to avoid the costs associated with lengthy litigation,” a Sony spokesperson writes in the statement.
After the PSN hack, 65 class action complaints were filed and later they became a Consolidated Class Action Complaint (CAC) in the United States.
Who did not participated in the Welcome Back scheme by Sony are entitled to one of 14 Playstation 3 or Playstation Portable Games and three PS3 themes based on the list of Six, or a three-month subscription to PlayStation Plus.
These claims are capped at a value of $6 million and will be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.
As some of the credit cards also exposed in the hack, so if anyone of the PSN hack affected user found any account theft and have documentation to prove it, then they able to claim up to $2500.
This settlement only applies to the PSN account holders living in the United States, and it has not yet been approved by Judge.
Source: ZDNet
