National Amusements, the parent company of CBS and Paramount, disclosed a year-old hack this month that affected 82,128 individuals. TechCrunch initially reported on the breach, revealed in a legal filing with Maine’s Attorney General under a 2005 state digital privacy law. National Amusements has not made any public comment on the breach beyond the legal filing, leaving it unclear whether customer or strictly employee data was stolen.
As per Maine’s data breach notification, the hack took place over a year ago, from December 13 to 15, 2022, affecting 82,128 individuals, including 64 residents of Maine. Given that the notification was filed by National Amusements’ Senior Vice President of Human Resources, it is possible, though not confirmed, that the hack primarily or solely involved employee data. The filing revealed that the company began notifying affected customers in writing on December 22, 2023, 372 days after the breach.
The filing also revealed that the 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).” Those whose social security numbers were compromised will be offered 12 months of Experian credit monitoring and identity theft services, according to National Amusements in a notice for Maine.
National Amusements secured a controlling stake in Paramount and CBS following the Viacom-CBS merger in 2019. This hack appears to be separate from another disclosed by Paramount in August, per information from Massachusetts’ Attorney General’s Office, which took place “between May and June 2023.”
