Nintendo is the latest in a long line of victims of the hacking community, LulzSec.
Nintendo has confirmed that its US website has been hacked. A group called Lulz Security, or LulzSec, gained access to one of the site's servers, copying and then publishing a configuration file.
Last week LulzSec also
hacked Sony Pictures' website, again publishing user information online.
Thankfully, Nintendo's server contained no customer information - a fact confirmed by both the hackers and the hacked.
In an email sent to
Reuters, Nintendo stated:
'
The server contained no consumer information,' Nintendo said in a statement to
Reuters. '
The protection of our customer information is our utmost priority...We constantly monitor our security.'
'Re: Nintendo, we just got a config file and made it clear that we didn't mean any harm,' said a
LulzSec Twitter post regarding the matter. '
Nintendo had already fixed it anyway. <3 them'
What do you make of the news - did Nintendo and Sony have it coming or is it just another case of hackers ruining everyone's fun? Let us know in
the forums.
22 Comments
Discuss in the forums ReplyThat is all
While Sony and Microsoft have a streamlined online presence built into their consoles that it's difficult to get away from, Nintendo have always made their online features optional without as much streamlining. From a security point of view, Nintendo were never going to be anywhere near as badly affected by hacker attacks as the other two big players could have been, largely because they deliberately don't keep any customer data that's actually worth stealing. Whether this was astute foresight on Nintendo's part is debatable, but the easy conclusion to draw is that if you're going to build an online database of high-value data you need to secure it properly (no sh*t sherlock!).
MS would be the next logical target but compared to Nintendo and Sony they are a far more difficult prospect. They've been fending off attacks like this for years ever since it became obvious that defacing Microsoft's webpage would make any hacker who could pull it off a hacker's household name. So, unless the Xbox Live system ever suffers a similar fate to Sony's offering, this whole sequence of events could well stand as a textbook example on how to deal with online security. If you aren't experienced at it, don't keep anything lying around worth stealing!
The way some defend this kind of illegal activities is scaring.
Yeah, lets all defend these hackers actions against evil Sony!
Whilst I agree, it's just as scary that no-one seems to care about anything anymore.
Maybe you accidentally all commented on the wrong post. Just sayin'.
That's so horrible. I don't care how old these Lulz kiddies are now, I just want someone to track them down and get them in prison where they belong.
1) I'm bored, angry and frustrated by all these hacks causing nothing but disruption and grief to people who deserve to be able to get on with their gaming in peace. I'm starting to believe that maybe governments should lock down the internet because nothing else will stop these kids doing this.
and
2) Doesn't anyone else find it hugely suspicious that there are so many high profile attacks that will in turn work against any good the attackers are trying to achieve. The hackers aren't stupid though, in fact I am led to believe that it's possible each hacker's brain holds more intelligence than entire governments put together, minus an essential helping of social etiquette. My point being that all these hacks are working against what most hackers would want, which is more freedom to have fun. These hacks will push governments faster to lock the internet down ... Wouldn't it be in agencies benefits to be pulling off these attacks themselves to force the lock-down?
Anything beyond that isn't even remotely benovolent. It is a criminal prank or just plain criminal (though technically hacking it period is criminal, but you could at least claim you did it for benevolent means if you didn't take it beyond the bounds I mentioned).
Lolzsec is also going further and basically saying that users have it coming if their other accounts get accessed if they reuse username and/or password information. Really? You are going to go there? Your criminal action caused people to be exploited means its their fault and not yours? Its like saying its the renter's fault that they lost everything if they didn't insure their posessions if you burn the apartment complex down.
Well if you didn't burn the darn thing down, it wouldn't have been a problem (would it have been smarter if they hadn't used the same username and common password, sure, but it isn't their fault that you hacked Sony and then revealed all their information)
The internet is a nice tool for communication and spreading information, but I'd recommend everyone to only use it anonymously and not to give away their information freely. In the past 16 years I'm actively using the internet on a daily basis, I've never used my CC to pay for something, nor did I ever subscribe to networks (social networks, forums, etc) by using my real name, birthdate or adress.
I don't even do order something online, but pick up the phone instead and pay per bill.
So, if all these current hacks make people aware of the fact, that their data isn't safe in the internet, then this can only be a good thing.
Privacy first.
+1. The way people defend these guys you'd think they were Robin Hood.
not intelligence.. it's passion
if you like to solve cryptic problems, you can be a hacker.. the thing is noone will tell you anything.. you have to first dive in head first and figure it all out yourself
but most people seem too dumb/lazy and want everything handed to them on a platter or it's not worth their time.. trust me the stuff has nothing to do with intelligence- it's just like audiophiles who build a better box and are always striving for perfect sound
like the people at rapid7 who work on metasploit.. to a layman someone running metasploit without a front end looks like genius.. and really until you actually find an exploit (I found a few in gaming engines back it the day myself) your just a newbie using the tools put out there and running the latest exploits found by others
it helps to get your ccna as that will give you a better understanding.. as you get better you can pivot through firewalls in more secure networks and even get amin on unpatched windows 7 machines by passing the hash from a compromised machine.. it's not like rocket science though- a lot of it relies on people who don't know what they're doing (patching, bad passwords, social engineering), and occasionally 0-day exploits
there's also attacks that have nothing to do with exploiting the machine itself and can still get you the data your looking for.. these types of attacks are the most fun imo- as they can be done on anyone even in a secure network by getting access to their wireless ap or a access to a computer wired on the network.. scan and target the machine you want to sniff, all passwords pass through your rig unencrypted including ssl
now imagine your using online banking and fatboy is sitting in your network playing a man in the middle attack.. he has the password to your bank account now and he could be sitting in a car a couple blocks away (if he's setup right) even further is using a dish and biquad or a lot of power through a yagi (my favorite)
now a script kiddie could never pull something like that off but it's possible (through testing I've confirmed all of this, why I can talk about it).. not really about how smart you are- if you don't enjoy doing it, you'll be mediocre at best
some people enjoy popping pimples.. others enjoying solving crime.. others, buttsecks
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9133/44929434632413380780203.jpg
If you've payed through EFT (eletronic funds transfer), CC or similar, than your financial information is stored by these various companies in a manner that might well be accessible to hackers (IE on a computer that is probably connected to the internet in some manner). About the only thing not paying over the internet has prevented is removing phishing vulnerability and man in the middle attacks. It doesn't stop your private information from being scoured from any company's hacked system that you've delt with.
PS3 hacked, Wii hacked, PC hacked so long ago it's all taken as read... BillBox is the last one left standing.
I won't be around to comment on anything for a while, my friend Lucifer just asked if I wanted to spend the rest of the week at his place for some snowboarding.
Hilary Clinton declares that cyber-attacks on the US can be classed as a declaration of war ...
Does that mean that internal US attacks are classed as treason now?