Former US official to head cybersecurity at Sony

The headquarters of Japanese electronics company Sony in Tokyo
A picture shows the headquarters of Japanese electronics company Sony in Tokyo 2010. Japanese electronics giant Sony, which suffered a huge data breach this year, named a former top US Department of Homeland Security official on Tuesday to lead its cybersecurity efforts.

Japanese electronics giant Sony, which suffered a huge data breach this year, named a former top US Department of Homeland Security official on Tuesday to lead its cybersecurity efforts.

Philip Reitinger, who worked at US software giant Microsoft before joining the US government, has been appointed Sony's and a senior vice president, Sony said in a statement.

Reitinger will be Sony's top cybersecurity executive, responsible for information security, privacy and Internet safety, Sony said.

A graduate of Vanderbilt University and Yale University, Reitinger was named a deputy undersecretary in the in March 2009.

He resigned from that position in May.

Sony's PlayStation Network, Qriocity music streaming service and Sony Online Entertainment were targeted by hackers beginning in April in cyberattacks that resulted in one of the biggest data breaches since the advent of the Internet.

Over 100 million accounts were affected and Sony said it could not rule out that millions of may have been compromised. It has since restored its online services.

The cyberattacks threatened to cause deep damage to Sony's brand image and the company's efforts to link its gadgets to an online network of games, movies and music.

(c) 2011 AFP

Citation: Former US official to head cybersecurity at Sony (2011, September 6) retrieved 28 March 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2011-09-cybersecurity-sony.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

More Sony websites hacked, 8,500 Greek accounts hit

0 shares

Feedback to editors