“Just look at the recent Sony PlayStation debacle” says Tankard.  “Currently they are probably the biggest player in this highly competitive market place but I wonder whether this will change now that an estimated 77 million users data has been put at risk.

“ This is a salutary warning for all data holding companies.  Robust security systems must be put in place and not just those that see compliance with legislation such as PCI or the Data Protection Act.

“Encryption, logging, audit and security incident & event management systems  (SIEM) are critical.  If Sony had had SIEM systems in place for example they would have been alerted to unusual behaviour and been able to take steps to investigate, and even prevent, the attack.

“The fall out for companies in terms of adverse publicity is huge.  Millions of pounds are spent on acquiring their customers.  Surely investment in robust data security systems is a pittance in terms of losing them all!”