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N.Y. attorney general subpoenas Sony

Eric Schneiderman requests more details on Sony's security methods in the wake of the breach of 100 million of its customers' personal information.

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Erica Ogg Former Staff writer, CNET News
Erica Ogg is a CNET News reporter who covers Apple, HP, Dell, and other PC makers, as well as the consumer electronics industry. She's also one of the hosts of CNET News' Daily Podcast. In her non-work life, she's a history geek, a loyal Dodgers fan, and a mac-and-cheese connoisseur.
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Erica Ogg

The top law enforcement official for the state of New York wants to know more about how Sony's data server security was circumvented in a cyberattack on its PlayStation Network two weeks ago.

PlayStation Network breach

On Tuesday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued a subpoena to three of the company's business divisions--Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sony Network Entertainment, and Sony Online Entertainment.

The subpoena is the latest step in probes by legislative and law enforcement officials into what enabled a hacker to gain access to the names, addresses, birthdates, e-mail addresses, and passwords of more than 100 million Sony PSN, Qriocity, and Sony Online customers.

Sony informed customers last week that their data had been compromised, and is currently conducting its own investigation intothe incident, which took place between April 17 and April 19. Sony says it is also working with the FBI.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holden has confirmed the U.S. is looking into the attack as well. Earlier this week the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade began a hearing on data theft and requested Sony's testimony. The company declined, but submitted detailed answers about the breach.

Chairman of Sony Computer Entertainment, Kazuo Hirai, said in a written response to the subcommittee, "What is becoming more and more evident is that Sony has been the victim of a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyberattack designed to steal personal and credit card information for illegal purposes."