Sony has agreed to drop its appeal and pay a £250,000 ($400,000) fine for the 2011 hack of its PlayStation Network.

In January, the U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) handed down the fine, arguing that the company failed to adequately update its software or keep its passwords secure, which lead to the disastrous 2011 hack of the PlayStation Network.

Now, a reluctant Sony is withdrawing its petition for appeal, but only because it would rather pay a hefty fine than reveal how its security system works  or doesn't work, in this case.

"#Sony CEE confirms it will not be appealing £250k penalty after serious #DPA breach," the ICO tweeted.

"This decision reflects our commitment to protect the confidentiality of our network security from disclosure in the course of the proceeding," Sony said in a statement emailed to PCMag. "We continue to disagree with the decision on the merits."

Sony did not immediately respond to PCMag's request for comment.

Sony's PlayStation Network went dark on April 20, 2011, with Sony Online Entertainment following on May 2. The network was kept offline for almost a month, finally returning online in late May. The hack garnered attention from Congress, which questioned Sony's lack of deeper protection for its users.

Despite former Sony CEO Howard Stinger's insistence that "nobody's system is 100 percent secure," and that the breach "is a hiccup in the road to a network future," the ICO was not amused.

"There's no disguising that this is a business that should have known better," David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection, said in a January statement. "It is a company that trades on its technical expertise, and there's no doubt in my mind that they had access to both the technical knowledge and the resources to keep this information safe."

Smith called the Sony hack "the most serious" the ICO ever investigated, saying that it put a large number of consumers at risk of identity theft."

The incident forced Sony to completely rethink its approach to security, even hiring a former Department of Homeland Security official to lead information security and privacy issues.

At this point, Sony is focused on the release of its next-gen console, the PlayStation 4 , which is expected to hit store shelves before the 2013 holiday season.

Editor's Note: This story was updated at 5 p.m. Eastern with comment from Sony.

Further Reading