Sony hires detectives after gamers lose personal data

Sony has hired investigators after a breach of security in which the personal data of more than 100 million online game users was compromised.
Data Forte and cyber-security detectives from Guidance Software, among others, have been brought on board, said Sony.
The Playstation Network and Sony Online Entertainment have been taken offline.
Information including names, addresses and potentially credit card numbers was stolen in the attack.
Officials from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said they are looking into the breach of data, which might include some credit card numbers.
'Outdated database'

Last week, Sony said that the personal details of 77 million Playstation users may have been stolen by hackers.
Then on Tuesday, it said a further 25 million gamers had their personal details stolen because of a security breach.
The company said credit card details and other personal information had been taken from an "outdated database".
The new attack went beyond users of Playstation hardware, affecting PC and Facebook gamers.
Sony said direct debit information for about 10,700 customers in Austria, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany was stolen.
It also said credit or debit card details of some 12,700 non-US customers were compromised.

Mobile advertisements rising in Asia

More advertisers are reaching out to buyers through their mobile phones, with growth in the Asia-Pacific region outpacing the global rate, international mobile ad network InMobi said.
Advertisements on mobile phones reached 17.6 billion "impressions" in March this year, up 26 per cent from just four months earlier, it said in a report. The increase was 21 per cent globally during the same period, it added.
InMobi, which acts as a middleman between advertisers and mobile phone users, said the market was being driven by the phenomenal growth in smartphones, which now account for 22 per cent of all mobile ads in the region.
Smartphone users usually get interactive advertisements while surfing the web or playing games on their high-tech devices.
This allows users, for example, to view different car models being advertised or even "meet" characters of the Pirates of the Caribbean 4 movie in a click.
"The continued growth of mobile media consumption in Asia highlights the advertising opportunity for local, regional and global brands," said Atul Satija, InMobi's regional vice-president and managing director.
"The mobile phone screen is the primary screen for Internet use in Asia, a fact which will drive Asia to innovate in the mobile space potentially ahead of the world's most advanced media markets."
James Lamberti, vice president for global research and marketing at InMobi, said the introduction of the Android operating system to compete with Apple's iPhones "has significantly accelerated smartphone growth".
"With the increased focus on mobile from global publishers, advertisers and developers, the mobile experience has reached the next phase of its evolution," said Lamberti.
A joint study by InMobi and the Mobile Marketing Association reported that 80 per cent of Asian mobile web users shop while on the move, buying products including music, movies, games and clothes.

Hong Kong Stocks Drop a Sixth Day on Inflation Concerns; Sands China Falls

Hong Kong stocks fell for a sixth day, the longest stretch of losses since August, on speculation China will further tighten monetary policy to tame inflation.
Sands China Ltd. (1928), Asia's No. 1 casino company by market value, dropped 2.9 percent after earnings by its Las Vegas-based parent missed analysts' estimates. Citic Resources Holdings Ltd. fell 9.1 percent, the biggest loss in the Hang Seng Composite Index, after the oil and coal producer said it plans to raise HK$2.5 billion ($322 million) by selling shares.
"You've got a slower-than-expected economy coupled with the stickiness of higher inflation, so people in the market are probably going to wait and see before the next consumer price index numbers come out," said Michael Liang, chief investment officer at Foundation Asset Management (HK) Ltd., which oversees $120 million. "People may be edgy that the CPI is going to hit a new high."
The Hang Seng Index dropped 1.3 percent to 23,335.65 as of the midday trading break in Hong Kong, the biggest loss based on closing prices since April 19. All but one stock in the index declined. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Chinese companies' H-shares fell 1.6 percent to 12,899.71, set for its lowest close since March 28.
China may raise banks' reserve requirement ratios this month as new yuan positions at Chinese banks accumulated from sales of foreign exchange to the central bank may remain high, the China Securities Journal reported, citing unidentified people.
Inflation Expectations
"Stabilizing prices and managing inflation expectations are critical," the People's Bank of China said in a first- quarter monetary policy report published yesterday. Bank reserve requirements have no "absolute ceiling," the report said, restating Governor Zhou Xiaochuan's comment on April 16.
Futures on the Hang Seng Index (HSI) dropped 1 percent to 23,169. The HSI Volatility Index, the benchmark gauge for Hong Kong stock options, slid 1.7 percent to 17.71, indicating options traders expect a swing of 5.1 percent in the Hang Seng in the next 30 days.
Sands China retreated 2.9 percent to HK$21.75. Billionaire Sheldon Adelson's Las Vegas Sands Corp. yesterday said first- quarter profit excluding items was 37 cents a share, less than the 44-cent average estimate of 22 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Citic Resources fell 9.1 percent to HK$1.69. The Chinese metal producer-turned-energy supplier plans to issue 1.82 billion rights shares at HK$1.38 apiece on the basis of three rights shares for every 10 existing shares held, according to a statement to Hong Kong stock exchange.
China Electricity Generators
China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. slumped 3.3 percent to HK$15.36. The nation's second-largest mobile-phone company was cut to "underperform" from "neutral" by analysts at Macquarie Group Ltd.
Datang International Power Generation Co. rose 2.8 percent to HK$2.94. Dongfang Electric Corp. advanced 4 percent to HK$27.65. China Power International Development Ltd. climbed 2.2 percent to HK$1.87.
The China Electricity Council has asked the government to "appropriately" increase power prices to avoid supply shortfalls, the Shanghai Securities News reported today, citing unidentified people at the industry body. China's utility stocks were raised to "neutral" from "underweight" at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on the prospect the government may introduce policies to help the nation's power producers.

Radiation levels rise in seabed near Japan

LEVELS of radioactive substances have jumped in the Pacific seabed off Japan near the nuclear power plant crippled by a massive tsunami in March, according to the plant operator. Seabed samples collected some 15km from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant contained 1400 becquerels of radioactive caesium-137 per kilogram, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said.
The level is more than 600 times higher than a maximum 2.3 becquerels per kilogram detected in the past off the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima.
The samples, taken on Friday, also contained 1300 becquerels of caesium-134 and 190 becquerels of iodine-131, according to a TEPCO statement issued late on Tuesday after the first analysis of seabed soil since the March 11 disaster.
Levels of the two materials were too low to be gauged in the past, a TEPCO spokeswoman said. The company did not say whether the levels were considered harmful.
Samples taken at another spot 20km away from the plant also showed similarly high radiation levels.
TEPCO said it would continue to examine radiation levels.
"We cannot say anything definite after just one probe. We will conduct more sample examinations and keep a watch," the spokeswoman said.
The samples were taken 20-30 metres deep and three kilometres from the coast.
The Fukushima plant has leaked radiation into air, soil and ocean since it was severely damaged by the massive quake and tsunami.
Greenpeace said on Tuesday it had begun independent tests of water samples from the ocean near Japan's crippled for radiation contamination.
The samples will be collected outside Japan's 12-mile territorial waters in line with government rules, Greenpeace said.