Sony Corp, the world’s second-largest maker of video-game machines, temporarily suspended about 93,000 user accounts of its online gaming and entertainment services after finding they were hacked.
“A massive number” of unauthorised attempts were detected between October 7 and October 10, Sony spokesman Satoshi Fukuoka said. The efforts included usernames and passwords that matched 93,000 accounts, including at least 35,000 in the US and 24,000 in Europe, he said. Personal information, including home addresses, in some accounts may have been compromised, he said.
Customers haven’t complained and credit card information hasn’t been leaked, Fukuoka said. The suspensions come three months after the maker of PlayStation game consoles resumed online services following hacker attacks in April that compromised more than 100 million customer accounts, the second- largest online data breach in US history.
“The bitter memory of the April attack still lingers,” said Nobuo Kurahashi, an analyst at Mizuho Financial Group Inc. in Tokyo who rates Sony stock “neutral.” “Asking customers to change passwords will probably cause inconveniences and concerns.”
Sony, Japan’s largest exporter of consumer electronics, plans to e-mail users of the suspended accounts asking them to change their passwords, it said in a statement. The intruders probably used passwords and user names that are set for other companies’ services, Sony said in the statement.
