Sony finds security glitch in Vaio PCs

TOKYO: Sony Corp said on Thursday 900,000 of its Vaio personal computers,

almost all shipped in the Japanese market, were vulnerable to data security

breaches, although the problem could be fixed with a software patch.

A Sony spokesman said 890,000 of the PCs were shipped domestically, while the

rest went to the Middle East and Asia, excluding China.

The electronics giant said the security problems could be prevented with a

software patch available on CD-ROM or downloaded from the Internet for Japanese

users or for English

users.

The news spurred a brief drop in Sony's shares, which fell to 5,840 yen, down

1.68 per cent on the day. They quickly bounced to end the morning session up

0.67 per cent at 5,980 yen.

(C) Reuters Limited.