Cracker group LulzSec have managed to gain access to the Sony Developer Network and download the source code of the network, possibly giving them real-time access to the Sony network whenever they wish. This on top of the original cracking incident that allowed the personal data of millions of Sony customers to be downloaded from Sony servers putting the credit cards of the customers at risk. But Sony have had some salubrious incidents performed by it`s own departments in the past. With the Sony root-kit on Sony music CD`s, and removing the Linux installation option on the PS3 and the relentless pursuit of hackers like GeoHot who jail-broke the Sony PS3 system allowing more usage of the PS3 console and adding features that where removed by Sony in the past such as PS2 support and the ability to run Linux as well as running homebrew games on the console. The servers of Sony Pictures where recently compromised using a simple SQL injection attack where the GET strings you see in the URL bar of your web browser are modified to contain specific SQL commands and then they are passed to the server which interprets the SQL commands and performs whatever the malicious attacker wanted it to do. This is quite embarrassing for Sony, whose reputation has taken quite a hit in the past couple of months and this does not look like it will end any time soon. The Sony Pictures incident netted the crackers 150,000 database records, and they claimed they had access to over 4.5 million database records. They accessed every single item on the website with one SQL injection attack. This is not the way things should happen. If you have any clue about security, you would be constanly updating your server software and keeping everything patched and secure to help guard against these kinds of attacks. Sure Sony are a disparate bunch of departments and are not one Monolithic Sony department, but they should have some grasp of security and keep watch against various cyber attacks, but obviously not.
I always keep my WordPress software up to date and always update my plugins to keep up to date on the security issues and I have not had any problems, but I am not an evil corporation that treats it`s customers the way Sony do. Removing the OtherOS feature was a very bad thing for Sony, it was possible to create a supercomputing cluster with a bunch of PS3 consoles and create a very powerful computing system but this is only possible with the custom firmware these days. Thanks to George Hotz for creating the custom firmware that allows users to make more use of their console than they normally would be allowed by Sony Corporation.