Sony shares tumble over latest cyber attack

Sony shares in Tokyo trade lost 3.14 percent to close at 2,062 yen, the lowest level since March 2009.

No confidential data was stolen or published on the Internet in the cyber attack on Sony Europe Ltd., said company spokeswoman Mami Imada in Tokyo.

"It is true that the website was illegally accessed," said Imada. "But all the data that the hacker seems to have copied was information already available on the company website."

The London-based headquarters of Sony Europe on Saturday morning spotted the attack in which personal information about the firm's certified trainers for professional broadcasting equipment was targeted.

Although the data was already open for anyone to view, the hacker accessed the information through an illegal path.

A series of cyber attacks has affected more than 100 million customer accounts, making it one of the largest data breaches ever.

On Saturday, US-based Sony Pictures Entertainment apologised over a personal data breach that hackers said involved more than one million passwords, email addresses and other information being stolen.

At the weekend, another Japanese gamemaker, Nintendo, said the server of its US unit had been hacked a few weeks ago.

Nintendo shares lost 1.59 percent at 17,910.

"The server contained no consumer information," said a Nintendo statement that confirmed the attack.

(c) 2011 AFP