A report filed with the Attorney General’s Office in Maine indicates that financial data was purloined.
The parent company of CBS and Paramount, National Amusements, reported a year-old hack this month that affected 82,128 people. TechCrunch first reported on the breach, which was disclosed in a company legal filing with Maine’s Attorney General under a state digital privacy law from 2005. Notwithstanding the legal filing, National Amusements has not made any public comments regarding the intrusion, and it is unclear whether customer (or “only” employee) data was stolen.
According to Maine’s data breach notification, the hack happened more than a year ago, between December 13 and December 15, 2022, affecting 82,128 people, 64 of whom were residents of Maine. The notice was filed by National Amusements’ senior vice president of human resources, which may or may not confirm that the hack was centered around internal employee data. The filing also states that the company started notifying customers in writing on December 22, 2023, which is 372 days after the breach.
The notice letter to the victims states, “On or about December 15, 2022, National Amusements became aware of suspicious activity in our computer network. We immediately took steps to secure our network and minimize any disruption to our operations.”
The notice posted by Maine’s Attorney General’s office lists August 23, 2023 as the “date breach discovered,” which suggests the company did not know about the intrusion until eight months after the incident—hardly “immediately” taking steps. Nevertheless, that last sentence is inconsistent.
National Amusements wrote in Maine’s notice that it is offering victims of identity theft and credit monitoring services for a year from Experian to customers whose social security numbers were stolen. The filing claims that hackers gained access to financial information, including “account number or credit/debit card number (in combination with security code, access code, password or PIN for the account).”
For further information or confirmation, Xyz technology reached out to National Amusements; if we hear back, we will update this post.
Following the Viacom-CBS merger in 2019, National Amusements acquired a controlling interest in both Paramount and CBS. This hack seems unrelated to the Paramount hack that was made public in August by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, with the firm stating that the intrusion occurred “between May and June 2023.”