1.3m Sega Pass customer accounts stolen

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 20 June, 2011

Publisher strengthens security after hack.

Personal details relating to nearly 1.3 million customers was stolen as part of last week's Sega hack.

1,290,775 Sega Pass members' names, email addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords were obtained.

In a statement Sega apologised for the hack, again stressed it does not hold credit card information, and said it had strengthened its network security.

"We express our sincerest apologies to our customers for the inconvenience and concern caused by this matter," Sega said.

"Sega Pass is the service used to provide information about our new products to registered members and does not hold any customer financial information.

"After the unauthorized entry was identified, we immediately stopped the Sega Pass service and took emergency action to prevent further damage. This action included immediately contacting all our registered Sega Pass users. We are now fully investigating the cause of the incident.

"We have also examined the possibility of any other information loss from unauthorized access across our other services and can confirm there are no other verified incidents.

"We will immediately report through the website of Sega Europe Ltd. should there be any further developments regarding this issue.

"We deeply regret that such unauthorized access occurred. We will go on to further strengthen our network security as a priority issue and strive to prevent any potential recurrence."

Sony, Bethesda, Nintendo and Eve Online hackers LulzSec has denied responsibility for the hack – and even offered to help Sega track down the perpetrators.

The Sega hack is the latest in a string of attacks on video game companies this year, seemingly sparked by Sony's suit against PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George "Geohot" Hotz.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • KayJay #1 11 months ago

    It's not just about Sony. And what have Sony done to make them not innocent... :/

    Hacking is big business and personal details go for a lot of money on the Market. 100's of companies are hacked every day, it's just the way it is.
    Edited by KayJay at 20/06/11 @ 08:42

  • NeoKenzi #2 11 months ago

    EG need to stop headlining these "hacks" becasue the people involved are just getting too cocky and its free press for them to make themselves feel like their special... they are just idiots with no job and nothing better to do... with the said "skills" they should look for a job and contribute rather than corrupt it.

  • azic #3 11 months ago

    @NeoKenzi
    I think you'll find
    1. They are at uni
    2. The either do work, or don't need to.

    Don't make the assumption that they are fat ugly geeks in the basement!
    These people are generally well educated and money is usually not their top priority.

    They do it for the juice. Also most of the time the data is not used for any purpose other than scare mongering and exposing companies for not taking better care.

    I'm not condoning them, I am just saying your comment is fairly off the mark, when it comes to the person type.
    Edited by azic at 20/06/11 @ 08:42

  • shirotsku #4 11 months ago

    Still don't regret signing up for the Football Manager newsletter. Just. One. More. Match...

  • NeoKenzi #5 11 months ago

    @azic

    I argee to a degree but what are the reasons for these hacks? It does seem that they are doing it without any justification... I'm also not assuming that they are fat geeks but these attacks don't have a true meaning behind them. Its not like they're hacking into these to show these companies that they have open areas in their defences to help make their security better that's what I meant about contributing... they're stealing data according to the article.

  • FarFromSane #6 11 months ago

    would explain why the Football Manager forum is down

    Luckily i use different passwords for everything

  • Toothball #7 11 months ago

    I think my Sega Pass password got out with the Gawker leak a while back. I didn't really bother changing it since it's one I tend to use for forums and the like. My accounts involving money got more complex passwords. I think it's the same as my Eurogamer password actually, so if I start posting links to Famale Goods all over you'll know what's happened.

  • chris_ace #8 11 months ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • marshaal5 #9 11 months ago

    "Sparked by Sony" how do you come to that conclusion then ? Your bias is wearing very very thin.

  • Velios #10 11 months ago

    Sega should accept LulzSec's offer, then cuff the cunts to the radiator while they wait for the Bethesda boys to come over...

  • LEDgar #11 11 months ago

    Received an email from Sega about this 3 days ago. I don't even remember signing up for the service. I'm interested to hear of future gaming-related attacks, see what else I'm signed up to.

  • Bonders99 #12 11 months ago

    @BBIAJ

    So you have conclusive proof that Sony caused Sega to get hacked ?. You imbecile

  • BBIAJ #13 11 months ago

    @Bonders99:

    No, but since SONY got butt fucked, everyone else has been getting raped up the arse for no good reason.

    FYI, a question mark closes a sentence, there's no need for a period afterwards.

    You utter cretin.
    Edited by BBIAJ at 20/06/11 @ 11:56

  • OneClassyBloke #14 11 months ago

    For all the foaming at the gash people seem to have hating on Lulz Sec, you'd got to admit, they have good taste. They expresses much love for the Dreamcast.

    Besides, this hack was probably launched by some copycat Sony fanboys. Man, they are petty.

  • KDR_11k #15 11 months ago

    Geohot is an easy scapegoat but few hackers are actually activists. Most hackers work for organized crime or are freelancers who sell their looted data to the highest bidder. This isn't about ideology, it's about money.