Roland's 'Backstage' website hacked

Roland Corporation's United States arm has confirmed that its Backstage website has been hacked, exposing the personal data of customers.

In an email obtained by SC Magazine, users of the 'Roland Backstage' service - which acts as a support forum and place to register products - were told to reset passwords at minimum following the breach.

The company - which makes electronic musical instruments - said in the email that it "believe[d] that less than one percent of subscriber account information was compromised".

"This information may include one or more of the following: the user name, e-mail address, password, street address, phone number, and/or personal information such as age range, gender and registered products," the email stated.

"Please note also that since you did not provide us with any credit card information or other financial data when you subscribed to the "Roland Backstage" portion of the website, you do not need to worry about credit card information or other financial data being leaked from our website."

The email raised some concerns of phishing when it did not come from Roland US but via Bronto, an electronic marketing service.

An email to the rolandus.com support address listed on the email was used by SC Magazine to verify the authenticity of the notice.

"We can verify that this email did originate from Roland Corp. U.S. and does pertain to the Backstage section of our website," the response said.

"We did use a 3rd party system (bronto.com) to send all of the emails so we could get statistics on how many actually reached their destinations correctly."

The response came from a 'Roger H' of Roland Corporation US. A LinkedIn search shows that Roland employs a Roger Halvorson in customer service in Los Angeles. Further internet searches show he has previously responded to customer support requests.

Roland US apologised for the breach in the email to customers.