NEW YORK ââ¬â Sony Corp. said Monday that hackers may have taken personal information from an additional 24.6 million user accounts after a review of the recent PlayStation Network breach found an intrusion at a division that makes multiplayer online games.
The data breach comes on top of the 77 million PlayStation accounts it has already said were jeopardized by a malicious intrusion.
The latest incident occurred April 16 and 17 ââ¬â earlier than the PlayStation break-in, which occurred from April 17 to 19, Sony said.
About 23,400 financial records from an outdated 2007 database involving people outside the U.S. may have been stolen in the newly discovered breach, including 10,700 direct debit records of customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, it said.
The outdated information contained credit card numbers, debit card numbers and expiration dates, but not the 3-digit security code on the back of credit cards. The direct debit records included bank account numbers, customer names, account names and customer addresses.
Company spokeswoman Taina Rodriguez said Sony had no evidence the information taken from Sony Online Entertainment, or SOE, was used illicitly for financial gain.
We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in the cyber-attacks on the company, but on May 1 we concluded that SOE account information may have been stolen and we are notifying you as soon as possible, Sony said in a message to customers.
Sony said that it shut service Monday morning to Sony Online Entertainment games, which are available on personal computers, Facebook and the PlayStation 3 console. Its most popular games include EverQuest, Free Realms and DC Universe Online.
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tec_sony_hacker_attack
The data breach comes on top of the 77 million PlayStation accounts it has already said were jeopardized by a malicious intrusion.
The latest incident occurred April 16 and 17 ââ¬â earlier than the PlayStation break-in, which occurred from April 17 to 19, Sony said.
About 23,400 financial records from an outdated 2007 database involving people outside the U.S. may have been stolen in the newly discovered breach, including 10,700 direct debit records of customers in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, it said.
The outdated information contained credit card numbers, debit card numbers and expiration dates, but not the 3-digit security code on the back of credit cards. The direct debit records included bank account numbers, customer names, account names and customer addresses.
Company spokeswoman Taina Rodriguez said Sony had no evidence the information taken from Sony Online Entertainment, or SOE, was used illicitly for financial gain.
We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in the cyber-attacks on the company, but on May 1 we concluded that SOE account information may have been stolen and we are notifying you as soon as possible, Sony said in a message to customers.
Sony said that it shut service Monday morning to Sony Online Entertainment games, which are available on personal computers, Facebook and the PlayStation 3 console. Its most popular games include EverQuest, Free Realms and DC Universe Online.
Full story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tec_sony_hacker_attack
