Princess Beatrice, the first woman in line to the throne, may have had some personal information leaked as part of a massive cyberattack, according to a new report.
Beatrice, 26, was working at Sony Pictures in London when hackers got into the company’s network and stole a number of documents, including sensitive medical files, email exchanges, and other private information about staff.
The Times reported that Beatrice is still working for Sony after starting an internship earlier this year and “could be” one of the victims of the attack.
A spokesman would only confirm with the Daily Mail that Beatrice “continues to work in the business sector.”
The Sony Pictures hack, carried out by the Guardians of Peace group, reportedly infiltrated almost every one of the studio’s computers.
Sensitive information leaked has included 47,000 Social Security numbers, as well as the salaries of some employees and chains of emails between some of them.
Victims include star comedy director Judd Apatow and actors Rebel Wilson and Sylvester Stallone.
Experts say the hack may have come from North Korea, although Sony denied that it would publicly accuse the regime.
The code used in the hack is apparently similar to the code used in attacks targeting South Korean companies and government agencies last year.
Sony is working with the FBI and Silicon Valley security firm FireEye to investigate the attacks. None of the entities would comment on the investigation.
But three independent researchers said there are intriguing signs of a North Korean link to the attack, although others warned it’s difficult to make a definitive connection.
“We’ve seen it and it has a number of similarities to the attack code used in March 2013 during ”Dark Seoul,“ said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer for Trend Micro, a Japanese security company with operations in the United States. ”Dark Seoul” refers to attacks last March and in June 2013 on South Korean companies and government servers, which the South Korean government blamed on the North.
Kellermann stopped short of saying the attack that crippled Sony’s internal computer systems last week was definitely the work of North Korea. But he said, “There are strong indications of North Korean involvement. All roads lead to Rome here.”
Princess Beatrice is the daughter of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Sarah, the Duchess of York.
She has one sibling, Princess Eugenie.
She is sixth overall in the line of succession to the throne.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
