National Amusements Confirms Cyberattack; Paramount & CBS Parent Says 82,000 People Affected

Denise Petski
·2 min read
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UPDATED with company statement: Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, the controlling shareholder of Paramount Global, has confirmed it was the victim of a hack that affected more than 82,000 people.

The corporate parent of Paramount Global and CBS and owner of the 1,500-screen theater chain Showcase Cinemas revealed in a legally required filing with Maine’s attorney general that hackers stole personal information on 82,128 people during a December 2022 data breach. Details of the breach came to light just last week when the company began notifying those affected.

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According to the filing, the company discovered the hack, which occurred between December 13-15, 2022, eight months later in August but did not say what specific personal information was taken. The filing noted that hackers also stole financial information, such as banking account numbers or credit card numbers, in combination with security code, access code, password or PIN numbers.

“When we became aware of the incident, we engaged a leading forensic cybersecurity firm to investigate and contain it,” National Amusements said in a statement to Deadline. “As we clearly disclosed, based on our investigation, there is no indication of any identity theft or fraud as a result of this event. However, out of an abundance of caution, we have notified potentially affected individuals to encourage preventative measures. We take information security very seriously and continue to undertake enhancements to our processes and procedures.”

Paramount disclosed a separate security breach in August, according to a filing with the Massachusetts attorney general, in which hackers took personal information from customers that included customer names, date of birth, Social Security numbers or other government-issued identification including driver’s license or passport numbers and information related to the customer’s relationship with Paramount.

Word of the National Amusements security comes amid reports that Redstone is considering selling a controlling stake in the company.

Paramount Global, which Redstone leads as chair and CEO of its controlling shareholder, has hit a prolonged rough patch, and speculation is rampant about its future as a stand-alone company.

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