Sega says 1.3 million users affected by cyber attack

[Jake Kouns <jkouns () opensecurityfoundation org>]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43455950/ns/technology_and_science-security/?

TOKYO — Japanese video game developer Sega Corp said on Sunday that
information belonging to 1.3 million customers has been stolen from
its database, the latest in a rash of global cyber attacks against
video game companies.

Names, birth dates, email addresses and encrypted passwords of users
of Sega Pass online network members had been compromised, Sega said in
a statement, though payment data such as credit card numbers was safe.
Sega Pass had been shut down.

"We are deeply sorry for causing trouble to our customers. We want to
work on strengthening security," said Yoko Nagasawa, a Sega
spokeswoman, adding it is unclear when the firm would restart Sega
Pass.

The attack against Sega, a division of Sega Sammy Holdings that makes
game software such as Sonic the Hedgehog as well as slot machines,
follows other recent significant breaches including Citigroup, which
said over 360,000 accounts were hit in May, and the International
Monetary Fund.

The drama surrounding the recent round of video game breaches paled
compared to what PlayStation maker Sony Corp experienced following two
high-profile attacks that surfaced in April.

Those breaches led to the theft of account data for more than 100
million customers, making it the largest ever hacking of data outside
the financial services industry.

Sega Europe, a division of Sega that runs the Sega Pass network,
immediately notified Sega and the network customers after it found out
about the breach on Thursday, Nagasawa said.

Lulz Security, a group of hackers that has launched cyber attacks
against other video game companies including Nintendo, has
unexpectedly offered to track down and punish the hackers who broke
into Sega's database.
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