JUST ONE DAY AFTER Sony announced it had introduced new security measures to prevent future hacks of its online system, the company has announced a second major security breach in which the personal details of another 25 million users may have been stolen.

Sony has said hackers broke into the data belonging to 24.6m user accounts for its onling gaming system, the Sony Online Entertainment PC games network, a day before the separate attack on its PlayStation network.

The personal information of around 77 million users was compromised in the PlayStation system attack.

Although Sony said some direct debit records, names, addresses and credit card details may have been stolen, it has not found any evidence of credit card theft. It has warned its users to keep an eye on their bank and credit card accounts in case any fraud follows the security breach.

On Sunday, Sony said it was resuming some services on the PlayStation network, which was shut down following the security breach.

The attack on its PC gaming system occurred on 16 or 17 April, the electronics company said, and hackers may have stolen over 23,000 financial records from an outdated 2007 database of user records. Sony insists that the database is securely encrypted.

The Sony Online Entertainment games system was shut down yesterday in response to the hack.

Sony says it will give players 30 days additional time along with one additional day for each day the system is down. It will also offer complimentary downloads and other freebies as compensation to its PlayStation customers.

- Additional reporting by the AP