A recent news report comes from Netcraft (a website that specializes in internet security and research) uncovered details on an EA Games server hack. Two websites using the ea.com domain were used to host calendars but have been hacked to host a fishing website that looks similar to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s official site.
EA servers compromised
The phishing server tricks the unsuspecting victim into submitting his or her Apple ID and password. The scam then presents another form that asks the victim to verify personal information such as name, credit card number, card expiration date, birthday, phone number, mother’s maiden name, and other personal information.
Netcraft added, “The compromised server is hosted within EA’s own network. Compromised internet-visible servers are often used as “stepping stones” to attack internal servers and access data which would otherwise be invisible to the internet, although there is no obvious outward facing evidence to suggest that this has happened. In this case, the hacker has managed to install and execute arbitrary PHP scripts on the EA server, so it is likely that he can at least also view the contents of the calendar and some of the source code and other data present on the server. The mere presence of old software can often provide sufficient incentive for a hacker to target one system over another, and to spend more time looking for additional vulnerabilities or trying to probe deeper into the internal network.”
EA Games was also compromised as hackers tried to steal personal information from Origin’s digital distribution platform. One particular website, which has been up for over a week now, attempts to take personal information such as email addresses and security questions from unsuspecting users.
Facebook is a popular target for hackers
EA’s Origin servers were also compromised in early January which caused connectivity and login issues. Not surprisingly, Apple ID login credentials are often a common target for hackers. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has over 500 million users with active credit cards tied to their accounts. Apple also happens to be one of the largest technology companies, only second to Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
