Jack Tretton, head of Sony Corp.'s US gaming division, was at the E3 video games show in Los Angeles, California, today, to launch the next generation handheld, PlayStation Vita. He used the opportunity to say sorry for the recent attack on the PlayStation Network.

The online security woes of Sony, though, haven't even ended. Japan's largest exporter of consumer electronics said today is investigating two new possible intrusions.

Sony cut off its Brazilian music entertainment website while it looks into a possible breach. Sony also is investigating a hacker group's claim that it stole data related to the company's game operation. The possible attack on Sony's Brazilian website may have altered some content, a spokesman said.

Sony reported the new attacks just two days after confirming that its European unit's website has been hacked.
A group called LulzSec posted statements online yesterday saying it broke into Sony Computer Entertainment's system to obtain developer network information. The group posted "54MB collection of SVN Sony Developer source code" and "internal network maps of Sony BMG" in its Web site.

Sony's movie studio confirmed Friday it had been hit by a hacker attack from "LulzSec" and said it was working with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to find the people responsible. Sony Pictures said Friday, "We have confirmed that a breach has occurred and have taken action to protect against further intrusion. A respected team of outside experts is conducting a forensic analysis of the attack," Sony said.

Sony shut down its Playstation network in April after a security breach in its PlayStation Network and Qriocity services. Hackers stole personal information -- including names and e-mail addresses -- from all of 77 million accounts, including credit card information of 12.3 million account holders. The services resumed in nearly all regions at the end of May, but not after the pressure of building a new system that has more firewalls, an offer to provide $1 million identity theft insurance per customer, month-long free play for affected customers, and lost revenues because of the more than a month shutdown.

LulzSec claimed Thursday it recently broke into SonyPictures.com and compromised over 1,000,000 users' personal information, including passwords, email addresses, home addresses, dates of birth, and all Sony opt-in data associated with their accounts. It added that, among other things, it compromised all admin details of Sony Pictures (including passwords) along with 75,000 "music codes" and 3.5 million "music coupons".

LulzSec on June 6 said in its Web site http://lulzsecurity.com that in response to NATO's and U.S. President Barrack Obama's decision to up the stakes with regard to hacking and now treat hacking as "an act of war", the group just hacked an FBI affiliated Web site, Infragard, specifically the Atlanta chapter.

Sony has been reviewing its online security since it suffered an embarrassing hacking attack in April on its Playstation Network.Sony said last month that it expects the PlayStation security breach to hurt operating profit by about 14 billion yen (US$170 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012.

The Sony Pictures breach is another headache for the Japanese electronics giant. It recently reported a third straight year of red ink. Sony posted a $3.2 billion net loss for fiscal year ended March 31, 2011, due to a write-off on a certain portion of deferred tax assets in Japan due to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Sony's stock has dropped 31 percent this year, its lowest since March 2009.