Sony Corporation: The PlayStation Network Crash (A) and (B)

Authors
Do, S., Hsu, J., and O'Rourke, J.S. (Editor)
Region
North America
Topic
Strategy & General Management
Length
22 pages
Keywords
damages
hacked
fallen stock prices
personal information
credit card data
Copyright Holder
Notre Dame
Student Price
$4.00
Target Audience
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Students

The date was April 30, 2011 and Sony shares had just fallen by more than 5% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The corporation was suffering through a chaotic time period in its gaming division. Hackers had invaded the PlayStation Network roughly two weeks earlier. They crippled the network and gained access to personal information, including credit card data, for roughly 77 million users. How can Sony resolve this dire situation and patch up the damage that has been done?

Learning Outcomes
  1. To underscore that internal and external opinion of responsible behavior can vary greatly.
  2. To highlight the conflict between the consumer’s demand to be immediately informed of potential risks to their personal data and a company’s responsibility to collect all reasonable data before releasing potentially damaging news.
  3. To provide insight into the legal environment that companies find themselves in, as the Internet and digital transactions thrust them into situations for which they are unprepared.
  4. To identify the responsibility that Sony holds to its stakeholders.
  5. To encourage analysis of how social media can be used by companies to interact and manage public perceptions.
  6. To highlight the level of risk that companies face in protecting customer data with the increase in sophistication of cyber attacks.