Sony fined $487k in Britain over 2011 PlayStation Network cyberattack

LONDON (AP) - British regulators fined Sony 250,000 pounds (S$487,100) for having insufficient security measures to prevent a cyberattack on its PlayStation Network.

The attack in April 2011 targeted credit card information through Sony's PlayStation Network and put millions of users' personal information, including names, addresses, birth dates and account passwords, at risk.

Britain's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said on Thursday security measures in place at the time "were simply not good enough". It said the attack could have been prevented if software had been up to date, while passwords were also not secure.

"There's no disguising that this is a business that should have known better," Mr David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection at the ICO, said in a statement. "It is a company that trades on its technical expertise, and there's no doubt in my mind that they had access to both the technical knowledge and the resources to keep this information safe."