PlayStation Network Attacks May Cost Sony $170+ Million

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In an earnings statement today, Sony estimated that the costs related to the recent PlayStation Network attacks and subsequent outages may total over $170 million as reported for Sony’s fiscal year ending in March 2012. That’s far higher than original analyst estimates in the tens of millions.

“Based on information currently available to Sony, our currently known costs associated with the unauthorized network access are estimated to be approximately 14 billion yen in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012,” said a company representative, as reported by Kotaku.

Sony’s fiscal year 2011 ends next week and, as reported earlier today, the company is expected to report an annual loss of $3.2 billion.

In other news, it’s been revealed that Sony’s music business, BMG, had its Greek website hacked back on May 5th, revealing personal information for more than 8,300 user accounts. The attack was recently reported by The Hacker News and relayed by security software maker, Sophos.

That marks the 7th attack on one of Sony’s sites recently, according to The Hacker News. Sophos contends that, “As long as it is popular within the hacker community to expose Sony’s flaws, we are likely to continue seeing successful attacks against them.”

There may be a silver lining, however: “While it’s cruel to kick someone while they’re down, when this is over, Sony may end up being one of the most secure web assets on the net,” says Sophos.

More on TIME.com:

Analyst: PlayStation Network Fiasco Will Be Costly, Change Industry Forever

Sony Internet Provider Hacked, Financial Theft Occurs This Time

Sony’s PlayStation Network Apology Package Won’t Please Everyone