Posted on 06/04/2005 1:14:01 PM PDT by familyop
Microsoft has been left scratching their collective heads after their popular MSN Korea site went offline after it was discovered that the site had been hacked and was being used to steal user passwords. The site was down for 10 hours, and was confirmed by Microsoft - the company acted quickly on the reported security breach and has launched an investigation. A program similar to the exploit code was found on some Chinese websites - Microsoft believes that the exploit was due to the operators of the server neglecting to install necessary security updates. The MSN Korea server is run by a partner company called Etimes.
"Microsoft learned of a criminal attempt to compromise an MSN Korea property hosted by a third party. The Microsoft Security Response Center and MSN response teams immediately mobilized to investigate the incident. Within a few hours, Microsoft took the appropriate action to resolve the issue and stop any additional criminal activity," said Microsoft spokesman Adam Sohn.
Sohn continued, "Our preliminary opinion here was, this was the result of an unpatched operating system. When stuff is in our data center, it's easier to control. We're pretty maniacal about getting servers patched and keeping our customers safe and protected."
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