October 12, 2011 - 14:53 AMT
Sony suspends 93,000 accounts in new breach

Sony said on Wednesday, October 12, it suspended 93,000 accounts on its online entertainment networks after detecting a wave of unauthorized sign-in attempts, months after a huge breach forced it to halt some services.

According to AFP, the attack took place between October 7 and 10 and succeeded in matching valid sign-in IDs and passwords from about 93,000 accounts on its PlayStation Network, Sony Entertainment Network and Sony Online Entertainment services.

Sony said credit card details associated with those accounts were not compromised as a result of the hacking incident.

The entertainment giant has temporarily locked the accounts and said it is continuing investigations into the extent of the access attempts.

It said it would notify affected account holders to advise them to reset their passwords.

A Sony spokesman said that as it moved to shut down the accounts after detecting the hacking bid, "a small fraction" of the 93,000 accounts were accessed and information such as names, birthdays and gaming achievements could have been seen.

However, spokesman Sean Yoneda said the latest setback was not on the same scale as a data breach in April that compromised more than 100 million accounts and forced it to temporarily halt its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services.