Sony’s new chief information security officer, Philip Reitinger, announced on Wednesday that the company had temporarily locked some 93,000 user accounts across three of its online entertainment networks, after detecting attempts “to test a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database.”
The announcement marks a corporate effort to improve transparency with Sony customers from April, when days passed before the company acknowledged the possible compromising of user information following an attack on its PlayStation and Qriocity networks.
Reitinger, in his first blog post as Sony’s information security chief, told customers on Wednesday that less than one tenth of one percent of the company’s PlayStation Network, Sony Entertainment Network, and Sony Online Entertainment audience was affected by the new round of hacks. “Only a small portion” of the affected 93,000 accounts, Reitinger said, had shown additional activity prior to their being locked by Sony. The executive also noted that user credit card numbers were not at risk from the breach.
Reitinger, who joined Sony in September, has previously held cyber security positions in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Microsoft Corp., the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Such entertainment security issues will be the focus of discussion at MESA and Variety’s upcoming Entertainment Security Summit, set to take place Dec. 8 at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles. For more information visit www.entertainmentsecuritysummit.com.
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