Sony’s computer networks were worse than previously thought, affecting 24.6 million Sony Online Entertainment network accounts.
The attack happened over the bank holiday weekend and was realised by the engineering departments
The Sony Online Entertainment network, used for massively multiplayer online games like EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies and Matrix Online, has been suspended temporarily, Sony said Monday. Add this to the 77 million accounts that may have been compromised last week, and Sony is responsible for one of the largest recorded data breaches.
The entertainment network is separate from the PlayStation Network but both hacks have similar traits, said Mai Hora, a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment in Tokyo.
In both cases, the stolen data includes customer names, e-mail addresses and hashed versions of their account passwords. That data could be used to spam customers or trick them with phishing e-mails.
Last week, rumors surfaced on underground hacking forums that the thieves had obtained millions of credit card numbers, but Sony maintains that this is untrue. “There is no evidence that our main credit card database was compromised. It is in a completely separate and secured environment,” Sony said Monday
