An expert has given testimony to the US House of Representatives Subcomittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade during its commencement on hearings on the “unauthorized intrusion” on Sony’s PlayStation Network and Qrocity service, stating Sony knew that their security software was dated and lacked any sort of firewall against hacking.
Cybersecurity expert Dr. Gene Spafford’s testimony stated that security experts discovered discussions on forums that talked about how the PSN’s security was lacking. The threads revealed that the network was using old versions of the Apache Web server software, which “was unpatched and had no firewall installed.”
Worse, two to three months before the attack, the vulnerability was reported “in an open forum monitored by Sony employees,” but the company took no action to rectify the situation. If the testimony is accurate, Sony could be slapped with a serious criminal negligence charge.
The Sony intrusion alone compromised 100 million accounts both on the PSN and its Qriocity service, according to Spafford. He also cited the total cost of the breach to Sony, credit card companies, and other outfits, at $21 billion. Thieves in credit-card theft forums actually complained that the PSN breach was so great that it was depressing the price of such information by a “factor of five or 10” on the black market.
Spafford didn’t reserve his accusations for Sony, either. He stated that law enforcement is ill-equipped to handle cyberterrorism and cyberthieft. Additionally, most companies are not equipped with enough security measures because “investing in security measures affects the bottom line. They don’t understand the risks involved by not investing in security. … So when they are hit, they pass that cost along to their customers, and to the rest of society.” In other words, a classic case of being penny wise and pound foolish.
Spafford’s proposed solution to future security is to limit the amount of data kept by companies such as Sony and to “age the data” so it expires after a certain time.
C-Span posted the video of the testimony here.
(Thanks, GameSpot.)
@Super Pitfall
Erm, the youtube video didn’t look THAT bad …
@“Super-slim” PS3 will be a no-show at Gamescom
Meh … not a console user, don’t plan to buy one, not a PS3 at least.
@UbiSoft claims lack of new consoles penalizes creativity
… again with the lack of new consoles? Enough with blaming the hardware manufacturers for the bad choices developers/publishers make. The producers/developers are not being held at gunpoint to release only Call of Duty, it is their damned choice >:(.
Not talking about indies? Why not? How come their creativity isn’t penalized? Or is it that they simply take the plunge?
Rage tanked, yes. Still, kudos to id for at least trying, even if they only got themselves a new game engine.
@Diablo III ‘God mode’ exploit for Wizard discovered
I’m just going to stay away from Blizzard, until they get their act together. Always online DRM, single player game on an MMO platform, really? Really?!
@EA: Nintendo “on track to become primarily a software company”
Yep, always funny reading comments of one company rep. setting a road map for another company …
No question of the week from me.
Gez I think that Blizzard needs to get their act together. They had problems during the beta that weren’t dealt with. But maybe it’s a marketing scam? draw attention to the company just before they are set to release a new WOW expansion?
@Super-slim PS3
Never cared how slim my console is. It’s not a PC. It will run the same games at the same rate as a fat console. Regarding PS3 sitting on the shelves, that’s to be expected. Out of all the consoles currently available (at least in UK) PS3 is still the priciest. Since there is a lack of exclusives nowadays, there is not much difference between PS3 and Xbox 360. Xbox is just cheaper and has Kinect.
@Ubisoft and penalised creativity
I am sick and tired of hearing this argument. We know this console generation overstayed it’s welcome. Why does Ubisoft have to state the obvious that has been stated many times before? Do they want us to storm Microsoft headquarters and demand a new Xbox? Do they think there will be a new Xbox if they tell everyone how bad the industry is feeling? Ubisfot. Sit down. Shut up. Bake Assassin’s Creed 3.
Diablo III “God mode”
You will be surprised at how many glitches/ exploits can pop up in well tested games. Cast yourselves back to the Modern Warfare 2 Javelin glitch. It was discovered a few years after the game was played by millions of people for trillions of hours.
@Nintendo going software only
This argument splits me down the middle. EA has a point. I own a 3DS. I am regretting it. I could have spent my money on more worthwhile things. Like illegal drugs, alcohol and prostitutes. And the WiiU looks dead in the water already. So close to launch and still no price. Most announced titles are games you can play on the Xbox NOW. I hope that Nintendo will pull itself together. But they are led by Japanese old men who seem to live by bushido code and would rather kill their company then give up their franchise to business.
This is all I have this week.
@QOTW: When was the first time that you really got into video games?