Sony offers identity theft insurance to online customers

The pledge is part of Sony's damage limitation exercise following the theft of data on a total of just over 100 million users of its online gaming and entertainment services.

Sony suspended its services as a result, although it claims there is no evidence that details have been used maliciously yet.

In a letter to Sony PlayStation users posted on its blog, Sir Howard Stringer, chairman and chief executive of Sony, said policies worth $1m (£610,000) had been secured for each user of Playstation network and Qriocity users in the US, and further deals for European customers would be in place shortly.

However, the policies will only apply to future instances where customers suffer identity theft.

"To date, there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused, and we continue to monitor the situation closely. We are also moving ahead with plans to help protect our customers from identity theft around the world.

"A program for US PlayStation Network and Qriocity customers that includes a $1 million identity theft insurance policy per user was launched earlier today and announcements for other regions will be coming soon."

Stringer said Sony would also give users a month of free membership to PlayStation Plus, and extended subscriptions to Playstation Plus and Music Unlimited customers for time lost following the cyber attacks when services were suspended.

Stringer also confirmed that the FBI was actively investigating the attacks to find the hackers responsible.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk