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Hackers get to MSN site
03/06/2005 07:56 - (SA)
Washington - Microsoft acknowledges that hackers booby-trapped its popular MSN website in South Korea to steal passwords from visitors.
The company says it was unclear how many internet users might have been affected.
Microsoft said it cleaned the website, www.msn.co.kr, and removed the dangerous software code that unknown hackers inserted this week.
A spokesperson, Adam Sohn, said on Thursday that Microsoft was confident its English-language websites were not vulnerable to the same type of attack.
South Korea is a leader in high-speed internet users worldwide. Microsoft's MSN web properties - which offer news, financial advice, car- and home-buying information and more - are among the most popular across the web.
The affected Microsoft site in South Korea offers news and other information plus links to the company's free e-mail and search services. Its English-language equivalent is the default home internet page for the newest versions of its flagship Windows software sold in the United States.
Failed to apply software patches
The Korean site, unlike US versions, was operated by another company, which Microsoft did not identify. Microsoft's own experts and Korean police were investigating, but Microsoft believes the computers were vulnerable because operators failed to apply necessary software patches, said Sohn, an MSN director.
"Our preliminary opinion here was, this was the result of an unpatched operating system," Sohn said. "When stuff is in our data centre, it's easier to control. We're pretty maniacal about getting servers patched and keeping our customers safe and protected."
Microsoft's acknowledgment of the hacking incident was the latest embarrassment for the world's largest software company, which has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to improve security and promote consumer confidence in its products.
Security researchers noticed the suspicious programming added to the Korean site on Tuesday and contacted the company. Microsoft traced the problem and removed the hacked computers within hours, Sohn said, but it doesn't yet know how long the dangerous programming was present.
The hacker program scanned visitors' computers and tried to activate password-stealing software that was found separately to exist on some hacked Chinese websites.
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