Hackers target popular websites

Rob Stringer

Sony Playstation were required to clean up their website this week after it was found to be hosting malicious code.

Eager gamers were put at risk as pages such as those promoting SingStar Pop and God of War were found to have been infected by hackers with a virus that presented the user with phony pop-ups, warning that their PC had been infected with malware.

The messages were devised in a bid to socially engineer visitors of their credit card details.

"It is essential that all websites, especially high-profile ones like this, have been properly hardened to prevent hackers from injecting malicious code onto what should be legitimate web pages," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

This was not the only assault on enthusiasts this week, as a virus had also been detected on the webpage of the association of tennis professionals (ATP).

These pages were infected with a malicious script, known as Mal/Badsrc, which activated a process that attacked the user’s computer with spyware.

The Playstation virus had been timed to coincide with the release of version 2.4 of firmware for the PS3.

By targeting the popular tennis site, the hackers were thought to be exploiting the excitement surrounding the current Wimbledon tournament.

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