Sony Probes New Claim That Hackers Stole User Data
Sony Pictures is investigating hackers' claims that they have stolen more than 1 million pieces of user information in another attack on the entertainment company's networks.
A group of hackers calling itself LulzSec said in a statement that it has obtained users' personal information, including passwords, email addresses, home addresses, dates of birth, and all Sony opt-in data associated with their accounts.
Sony Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. of America, said Thursday that it is aware of LulzSec's claim and looking into it.
The data, carried in a plain text file posted to the hacking group's site, appeared to be at least partially genuine. The Associated Press called a number listed by LulzSec as belonging to 84-year-old Mary Tanning, a resident of Minnesota. Tanning picked up the phone, and confirmed the rest of the details listed by LulzSec, including her password, which she said she was changing.
"I don't panic," she told the AP, explaining that she was very seldom online and wasn't wealthy. "There's nothing that they can pick out of me," she joked.
If confirmed, the breach would deal yet another blow to Sony, which suffered a massive cyberattack in April that targeted credit card information through its PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment networks. Company executives on Thursday faced questions from U.S. lawmakers over why consumers weren't informed more quickly about the breach. Over 100 million user accounts were affected and the company only recently was able to restore service.
At the time, experts warned that the attack emboldened hackers and made them more willing to pursue sensitive information.
LulzSec said Thursday that none of the data it accessed from Sony was encrypted, "which means it's just a matter of taking it."
"This is disgraceful and insecure," the group said in its statement. "They were asking for it."
LulzSec recently claimed responsibility for hacking the website of PBS network to post a fake story in protest of a recent Frontline investigative news program on WikiLeaks.
A group of Internet hackers, which refers to itself as Lulz Security or LulzSec, has claimed to have broken into servers for Sony entertainment websites and stolen in excess of one million items of personal details, including email addresses and passwords. Seventy-five thousand "music codes" and three-and-a-half million "music coupons" were also alleged broken into, according to a statement on their website.

In a statement, LulzSec reported that, "from a single injection, we accessed EVERYTHING" ''''. Claiming that Sony had not encrypted data which they allegedly gained access to and "were asking for it", the group questioned: "Why do you put such faith in a company that allows itself to become open to these simple attacks?"  spokesperson Jim Kennedy has stated that the corporation is "looking into these claims".

This incident is reminiscent of an occasion when the data of over 77 million accounts on the  were unlawfully taken by hackers in April 2011. The thefts prompted Sony to close the network, as well as other features, for nearly one month. According to , the attack is thought to be the largest in the history of the Internet.