Sony hacked again as latest breach sees 2,000 customer records taken from shopping site



In an unprecedented run of security lapses, Sony today announced it has been hacked again after information belonging to 2,000 people was leaked from one if its websites.

The latest embarrassing security leak announced by Sony saw websites in four countries being hacked.

Another security breach saw 2,000 customer data records taken from a server running a shopping website as part of the company's joint venture with Sony Ericsson in Canada.

Breach: The lapses affected users in Greece, Canada, Thailand and Indonesia



The leaked data was revealed during the same week that personal information belonging to 8,500 people was leaked from the firm's Greek Sony Music Entertainment website.

The data leaked included names, phone numbers and email addresses, while sites in Thailand and Indonesia have also been affected.



The company said all four sites have been taken down and that no credit card information had been registered.

Sony spokesman Atsuo Omagari said today that names, e-mail and encrypted passwords may have been stolen from the Sony Ericsson Canada website, but no credit card information was taken.

There have been no reports of damage from the security breach, discovered Tuesday, and the server has been shut down, he said.

An investigation was under way, and other details were not immediately available.

The electronics giant announced the latest leaks at the same time it revealed that company shares bounced back from two-month lows.

In its first estimate for the year to March 2012, Sony said operating profit would come in around 200 billion yen ($2.44 billion), which is set to match that of the previous year.

More than 100million online accounts are affected in a suspected hacking of Sony's PlayStation Network gaming service and other online services that began last month, tarnishing the brand behind the Walkman portable music player and Vaio personal computer.

The Japanese firm was last week forced to take down a website designed to help millions of users affected by April's amss data breach after finding another 'security hole'.



The Playstation Network and Qriocity music service password reset pages had been designed to help the 77million users of the Playstation Network reset their passwords after last month's hacking.



Worldwide breach: This map shows the number of Sony PlayStation user accounts registered across the globe

Tokyo-based Sony has been battling production delays and sales losses after supplier factories were damaged by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.

On Monday, it lowered its earnings projection for the fiscal year ended March to a 260 billion yen ($3.2 billion) loss, its third straight year of red ink, largely because of a charge it must take related to damages from the March disaster. It had initially expected to return to profit.

Sony is expecting costs related to its online security woes of 14 billion yen ($173 million), covering customer support, freebie packages, legal costs, lower sales and measures to beef up security.

Sony's TV business is likely to have stayed in the red for the seventh year straight for the fiscal year ended March. Sony reports earnings Thursday. Sony fell behind rivals in TVs when consumers began switching to flat-panel televisions.

Sony stock lost nearly 2 percent in morning trading on the Tokyo stock market to 2,227 yen ($27).