Sony Servers Infiltrated Abroad, Twice
The war of Sony vs. hackers is still being fought on multiple fronts.
Sony still faces attacks on its web-based infrastructure shortly after finally getting the PlayStation Network external intrusion [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110055-Sony-Restores-the-PlayStation-Network]. Two newly revealed attacks seem to indicate that Sony has become a very popular target.
IT security company F-Secure reports [http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002160.html] the discovery of a phishing site recently running through the use of a Sony Thailand server. The scheme targeted an Italian credit card company. F-Secure adds that while this is a malicious hack, the server used is "probably not very important."
The second attack involves So-net, an internet provider run by Sony in Japan. Vaguely similar to the PSN attack, So-net was infiltrated by an intruder that targeted its users' reward points. However, unlike the sophisticated nature of the PSN situation, the So-net intruder may have simply obtained log-in names and used randomly generated passwords to gain access to multiple accounts. A So-net warning claimed that a single IP address had attempted to access the network 10,000 times. At the end of the day, around $1,225 in virtual reward points were taken from So-net users, with 200-300 different accounts accessed. No personal information is said to have been stolen.
Sony also recently went through a situation with an exploit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110159-UPDATE-PSN-Password-Reset-Vulnerable-to-Exploit] that allowed a PSN password to be changed using a user name and an email address without confirmation. A security expert commented to Reuters: "I think it's now 'I'm a hacker and I'm bored, let's go after Sony.'" The Sony server attacks made headlines worldwide, which was not only bad PR for Sony, but a form of pheromone for hackers that may be specifically targeting the company from any angle they can find.
Source: Gamasutra [http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/us-sony-hacker-idUSTRE74J3Z820110520]
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The war of Sony vs. hackers is still being fought on multiple fronts.
Sony still faces attacks on its web-based infrastructure shortly after finally getting the PlayStation Network external intrusion [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110055-Sony-Restores-the-PlayStation-Network]. Two newly revealed attacks seem to indicate that Sony has become a very popular target.
IT security company F-Secure reports [http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002160.html] the discovery of a phishing site recently running through the use of a Sony Thailand server. The scheme targeted an Italian credit card company. F-Secure adds that while this is a malicious hack, the server used is "probably not very important."
The second attack involves So-net, an internet provider run by Sony in Japan. Vaguely similar to the PSN attack, So-net was infiltrated by an intruder that targeted its users' reward points. However, unlike the sophisticated nature of the PSN situation, the So-net intruder may have simply obtained log-in names and used randomly generated passwords to gain access to multiple accounts. A So-net warning claimed that a single IP address had attempted to access the network 10,000 times. At the end of the day, around $1,225 in virtual reward points were taken from So-net users, with 200-300 different accounts accessed. No personal information is said to have been stolen.
Sony also recently went through a situation with an exploit [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110159-UPDATE-PSN-Password-Reset-Vulnerable-to-Exploit] that allowed a PSN password to be changed using a user name and an email address without confirmation. A security expert commented to Reuters: "I think it's now 'I'm a hacker and I'm bored, let's go after Sony.'" The Sony server attacks made headlines worldwide, which was not only bad PR for Sony, but a form of pheromone for hackers that may be specifically targeting the company from any angle they can find.
Source: Gamasutra [http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/20/us-sony-hacker-idUSTRE74J3Z820110520]
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