Sony Ups Data Breach Victim Tally to 101 Million

Sony has admitted that the intruders that stole data from the PlayStation Network and Qriocity music and video service also breached its Sony Online Entertainment service.

The personal information of an additional 24.6 million gamers who’d registered on the Sony Online Entertainment service was compromised, Sony disclosed late in the day on May 2. Names, home addresses, email addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and gender information were stolen.

Sony disclosed on April 27 that thieves had stolen account information of up to 77 million users on the PlayStation Network and Qriocity. That breach affected primarily PlayStation owners. This latest disclosure means that account information of more than 101 million users has been compromised by this network intrusion.

Most SOE users are not PlayStation owners, but play games on Facebook and on the PC. SOE powers multiplayer games including EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Free Realms and DC Universe as well as Facebook-based Fortune League.

“We had previously believed that SOE customer data had not been obtained in the cyber-attacks on the company,” Sony said in its message to customers. “On May 1, we concluded that SOE account information may have been stolen.”

While the company had no actual evidence that credit card information had been stolen, it said it was erring on the side of caution to notify the users of the possibility. That was not the case for SOE, as direct debit details of 10,700 customers in Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany were stolen. Also taken were credit or debit card details of 12,700 non-United States customers from an “outdated database from 2007,” according to the company. Sony emphasized the three-digit security codes had not been stored and were not compromised. The card numbers and expiration dates were securely encrypted, according to the company.

“There is no evidence that our main credit card database was compromised. It is in a completely separate and secured environment,” Sony said in its message.

For more, read the eWEEK article: Sony Data Breach Tally Rises to 101 Million Users.