Saturday, 6 December 2014

Sony Hack Exposed 47,000 Social Security Numbers, Security Firm Says

 


The recent hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment revealed more than 47,000 Social Security numbers, a security firm says, and some of them could belong to Hollywood celebrities. Those SSNs appeared 1.1 million times in the 601 files posted by hackers, data security firm Identity Finder said Friday in a post on its website. A separate analysis by the Wall Street Journal named actor Sylvester Stallone and director Judd Apatow among the celebrities exposed. NBC News reached out to Sony Pictures for comment but the company did not respond.

This news comes after five upcoming Sony Pictures releases, including "Annie" and "The Interview," were reported to have been leaked onto the Internet last week by hackers calling themselves the "Guardians of Peace" (GOP). U.S. officials are investigating a possible link between GOP and the North Korean government, but no connection has been confirmed. "The most concerning finding in our analysis is the sheer number of duplicate copies of Social Security numbers that existed inside the files," wrote Identity Finder CEO Todd Feinman. The hack also reportedly revealed information like the salaries, birth dates, email addresses and more.
 
Source: NBC NEWS