Sony letter to workers says data breach affected thousands of current and former employees

A massive data breach is affecting nearly 7,000 current and former employees of Sony, the Japanese multinational conglomerate that makes the PlayStation console.

According to a document unveiled by Bleeding Computer, Sony has informed its workers that had their data exposed following reports from Sept. 25 that a ransomware group was attempting to sell Sony data. The breach allegedly happened in MOVEit Transfer, a file-managed transfer software that Sony workers use, according to the letter. Sony has yet to publicly comment on the breach.

Sony told its employees affected that they will receive credit monitoring through Equifax as well as help with identity restoration should elements of their identities be affected, per the letter. The company recorded two instances of data breaches, on May 31 and June 2 of this year. The breach was noted on June 2, with the company taking its time to investigate before informing its employees two days ago on Oct. 3.

The last massive Sony data breach occurred in 2011 to PlayStation 3 users, rendering the network unusable for months. Eventually, Sony was made to pay the equivalent of $396,100 by UK regulations under the Data Protection Act. At the time, the regulators said that Sony could have prevented the breach.

Sony is far from the only game company that has been targeted by hackers that want to leak their data. In Jan. 2023, hackers alleged that they stole League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics source code from Riot Games. An Activision Blizzard data breach in February revealed Call of Duty plans for the 2023 calendar year.