Personal data of Stallone, other celebs leaked in Sony hack

Dec 5, 2014, 11:08am PST

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Jonathan Alcorn / Bloomberg

Hackers found lots of sensitive information on the systems of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Staff L.A. Biz

Hackers found far more personal information than initially thought when they breached the computer system of Sony Pictures Entertainment, including Social Security numbers for more than 47,000 celebrities and employees.

Among the actors whose Social Security numbers were hacked were Sylvester Stallone, Judd Apatow and Rebel Wilson, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Data security software firm Identity Finder analyzed 33,000 leaked Sony Pictures documents and found the files also included the personal information, salaries and home addresses for employees and freelancers who worked at the studio, some who stopped working for Sony as far back as 2000 and one who started in 1955, the report said.

Other leaked data include contracts, termination dates, termination reason, and other sensitive information, according to CNET. Nearly all of the data were stored in Microsoft Excel files without password protection.

The majority of the Social Security numbers that were leaked don't appear to be for current or full-time Sony employees but for contractors and actors, according to the Los Angeles Times. Of the roughly 15,000 Sony employees whose information was leaked, about 11,000 are no longer employees there. The company currently has about 6,600 employees.

"There's no question that the biggest take-away is that Sony and all organizations need to treat sensitive data much more carefully," the Times quoted Indentity Finder Chief Executive Todd Feinman as saying.

Feinman added that he doesn't think North Korea was behind the security breach, as has been speculated. One of Sony's upcoming films is the comedy, "The Interview," starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as TV journalists who become involved in plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

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