An Analysis of the PlayStation Network
Joe Student
Date
Business 508
Professor

An Analysis of the PlayStation Network
Sony Corporation is a well diversified company providing many complementary products and services. Not only does Sony offer electronics through its own website, it has a series of online products and services it offers to its users. The PlayStation Network, a part of the Sony Entertainment Network, is one of these many services. Through the PlayStation Network, owners of Sony PlayStation products can play games online with each other. Users can also purchase games and additional items through the PlayStation Network. Credit card information is stored in the network to be used for future purchases. Storing credit card information allows users to make future purchases very quickly, and possibly increases sales. However, its users entrust Sony to handle this information with care. In April 2011, the Sony PlayStation Network had a series of security breaches that not only compromised users’ login, password, and personal information, but also their financial information such as credit card numbers. The Sony PlayStation Network had to shut down completely and did not return fully for over a month.
This paper will discuss the PlayStation Network and the recent security breaches. Despite the fact that the PlayStation Network has over 77 million online users, the system was compromised and Sony was unable to respond adequately to the problem. All companies can learn valuable lessons from the 2011 Sony PlayStation Network breaches.
Network Within a Network Sony Corporation, with origins dating back to 1946, was originally a manufacturer of electronics. After creating the Sony PlayStation, a video game console, Sony also began making and contracting with third parties to make video games. Now that the newest console, PlayStation 3,