Well, Lulz Sec can have overstated its level of success by declaring it had stolen 1,000,000 passwords from Sony Pictures — seems the number is toward 37,500. Now granted, any breach of user data is unacceptable, but if a hacker collective’s haul is below four percent of what it claimed, everyone can breathe a bit easier. The troublemakers will have made off with email addresses, phone numbers, and passwords, but Sony says no mastercard or social security numbers were compromised. The corporate issued a press release, which you will find after the break, and is operating with the FBI to trace down those responsible. Hopefully this finally closes the door on Sony’s security woes, and we will return to bringing you stories about Angry Birds ports and Kinect hacks .
June 8, 2011 – Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has provided notice to the approximately 37,500 folks that could have had some personally identifiable information stolen throughout the recent attack on sonypictures.com. SPE failed to request, and the stolen information failed to include, any mastercard information, social security numbers or driver license numbers from these people.
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On June 2, 2011, we learned we were the objective of a cyberattack when a hacker claimed that he had recently broken into sonypictures.com. Upon learning of this cyberattack, our team retained outside experts to conduct an investigation and forensic analysis. Furthermore, we promptly took offline all potentially affected databases containing personally identifiable information and contacted the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. We’re working with the FBI to aid within the identification of these liable for this crime.
We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we work to unravel these issues quickly and efficiently.
We’re continuing to research the main points of this cyberattack; however, we believe that a number of unauthorized persons could have obtained some or all the following information that you could have provided to us in reference to certain promotions or sweepstakes: name, address, email address, telephone number, gender, date of birth, and website password and user name.
On your security, we encourage you to pay attention to email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for private or sensitive information. Sony Pictures Entertainment won’t contact you by email or otherwise to invite in your bank card number or social security number. In case you are asked for this knowledge, you’ll be confident Sony Pictures Entertainment isn’t the entity asking. When our website features are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you just go surfing and alter your password. For those who use your Sony Pictures website user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you just change them there, besides.
When you’ve got concerns concerning the effect of this cyberattack on information you’ve provided to us, we have got listed below additional info and resources on your consideration:
U.S. residents are entitled under U.S. law to at least one free credit report annually from all of the three major credit bureaus. To reserve your free credit report, visit www.annualcreditreport.com or call toll-free (877) 322-8228.
At no charge, U.S. residents may have the 3 major U.S. credit bureaus place a “fraud alert” in your file that alerts creditors to take additional steps to ensure your identity sooner than granting credit for your name. This service could make it more challenging for somebody to get credit on your name. Note, however, that since it tells creditors to follow certain procedures to guard you, it also may delay your ability to acquire credit while the agency verifies your identity. Once one credit bureau confirms your fraud alert, the others are notified to put fraud alerts for your file. Must you desire to place a fraud alert, or if you have any questions regarding your credit report, please contact any individual of the agencies listed below.
Experian: 888-397-3742; www.experian.com; P.O. Box 9532, Allen, TX 75013
Equifax: 800-525-6285; www.equifax.com; P.O. Box 740241, Atlanta, GA 30374-0241
TransUnion: 800-680-7289; www.transunion.com; Fraud Victim Assistance Division, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834-6790
You’re able to want to visit the website of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.gov/idtheft or reach the FTC at 1-877-382-4357 or 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20580 for further details about how you can provide yourself with protection from identity theft. Your state Attorney General may additionally have advice on preventing identity theft, and also you should report instances of known or suspected identity theft to law enforcement, your State Attorney General, and the FTC. For North Carolina residents, the Attorney General is usually contacted at 9001 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-9001; telephone (877) 566-7226; or www.ncdoj.gov.
We’ll provide you separately with information regarding a complimentary offering to help you to the level you will be curious about enrolling in identity theft protection services and/or similar programs.
We thanks on your patience as we complete our investigation of this cyberattack, and we regret any inconvenience. Our teams are working to revive once possible any website features which were disabled. Please contact our Toll Free Information Line at 1-855-401-2644, Monday-Friday, between 9 am and 5 pm Central, when you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc.
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