Sony So-net breach exposes 2.58 million customer records and 54,401 email passwords
Sony’s Japanese So-net service lost 2,585,481 customer records, including plala (S Course) customers, plus 54,401 email credentials. Affected email users must reset their passwords through So-net’s official website. Watch for impersonation scams.
If you use Email Service (G), A-Box, So-net VAIO Mail or PostPet Mail Account Service, open So-net’s official website yourself and follow its breach FAQ to reset your email password, then update it in your email app. Check My Page for individual notices. Treat unexpected calls, texts and emails claiming to be So-net or Docomo cautiously; avoid their links and attachments.
What’s happening
Attackers accessed Sony Network Communications’ So-net database on 19 October, exposing 2,585,481 customer records containing names, phone numbers, email addresses, birth dates, gender and service identifiers. The total includes 443,495 plala (S Course) records; Docomo says other plala services were unaffected. Sony’s scope includes current members and former members who left from March 2026 onwards. Among So-net users, 54,401 email addresses and their passwords were also exposed. Contrary to BleepingComputer’s report that no banking details leaked, Sony’s updated notice confirms 16 bank-account records, plus seven password-reset notices. No credit-card data was exposed. Sony stopped the affected servers, reset compromised passwords and reported the breach to the privacy regulator. Its FAQ records individual notifications and letters sent on 29 October, with no confirmed secondary harm by that date. As at 3 November, the published cause remains under investigation; there is no announced all-clear.
- What
- Breach
- Affects
- Sony So-net internet and email services; Docomo Hikari plala (S Course), Japan
- Fixed in
- Nothing to patch
- Since
- 19 Oct 2026
Timeline
- Update
Sony sent letters to customers affected by 16 exposed bank-account records and seven exposed password-reset notices; the latter passwords were reset. Its FAQ reported no confirmed secondary harm as at this date and no newly confirmed leaks since the servers were stopped.
- Update
Sony reset the exposed email passwords, requiring affected customers to set new ones before resuming email use. It reported the incident to Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission.
- Made public
Sony disclosed 2,141,986 exposed So-net customer records and 443,495 plala (S Course) records. It also identified 54,401 exposed email addresses and associated passwords across four email services.
- Update
Sony’s investigation confirmed that personal information had leaked and established the data types and record counts.
- Update
Sony detected the intrusion, stopped the affected servers and blocked communications from the attackers’ source.
- UpdateNothing to patch
Attackers accessed Sony Network Communications’ So-net customer database.
Sources
- So-net customer database breach: apology and notice, updated 29 OctoberSony Network Communications · 29 Oct 2026
- So-net customer database breach: questions and answersSony Network Communications
- Notice of information leakage affecting Docomo Hikari plala (S Course) customersNTT Docomo · 27 Oct 2026
- Sony ISP subsidiary data breach exposes 2.5 million customer recordsBleepingComputer · 28 Oct 2026
- Data breach at Sony ISP subsidiary exposes 2.5 million customer records as Japan hit with another major cyberattackTechRadar · 29 Oct 2026
- Sony Group’s So-net loses about 2.58 million personal-information records, including Docomo Hikari customersTBS NEWS DIG via Livedoor News · 27 Oct 2026