Sony BMG User Data exposed in site hack

Another online attack leaves Sony suffering as it exposed users’ information which includes their names, email addresses, and usernames.

The Sony BMG Greece music site was hacked successfully and the attackers later shared the data they recovered about the site’s registered users, which was then posted in an online forum.

Hackers have repeatedly tried hacking Sony over the past several weeks. The company reported that earlier this month that the hackers successfully violated its PlayStation Network and compromised personal information of over 100 million, likely the largest malicious attack of its kind.

More hacks then followed, with Sony subsidiary So-Net Entertainment Corp. disclosed that a phishing scam was being run off of Sony’s Thailand server.

Chester Wisniewski of Naked Security points out that these may continue as Sony has become a target for hackers.

“As long as it is popular within the hacker community to expose Sony’s flaws, we are likely to continue seeing successful attacks against them… While it’s cruel to kick someone while they’re down, when this is over, Sony may end up being one of the most secure web assets on the net,” he writes.

Sony has made measures to reassure users but the company’s executives had confessed that risks remain.

“It’s a realization that we all had, that no system is 100 percent safe,” Kazuo Hirai, chairman of the board of directors said. “This requires constant monitoring and constant vigilance.”

Sony estimates that they will lose some $3.2 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2011. The PlayStation breach costs around $170 million, with the money going to improve users’ security.

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