Splinter Cell hack smells more like publicity stunt Ubisoft said that the website of its popular video game Splinter Cell had been hacked on Thursday. However circumstantial evidence suggests the hack is more likely to be a publicity stunt than a genuine cyber assault. Visitors to the Splinter Cell website are been greeted by a message in Russian. This is followed a bit.ly link …
"If it is a publicity stunt it's probably not the wisest that there has ever been - a hoax like this can panic users into believing there is a genuine security problem, and panic can lead internet users to make bad decisions,"
... i'd say the opposite is even worse; that [say] someone /does/ hack their site next week - users would now believe it's a hoax and be tricked into thinking they are safe by this weeks action...
silly silly...
Page title: Raven
Notifications
Subject: System Maintenance
Occasionally the security system will be switched off for planned work and data protection. During such work may be a breach in security from external threats. Thus, all off would be a random character in accordance with a random pattern of Delta-3-6-Oscar
Google translate of the russian Text:-
27.11.09 - Subject: System Maintenance
Occasionally the security system will be switched off for planned work and data protection. During such work may be a breach in security from external threats. Thus, all off would be a random character in accordance with a random pattern of Delta-3-6-Oscar
Have chucked the russian email into bable fish and this is what i got....
Periodically security system will be disconnected for conducting of planned works and data protection. During similar works can arise the breach out of danger from the external threat. Thus, all turning offs will bear random nature in accordance with the random diagram Delta-3-6- Oscar
Sounds like they're just updating the website! :D
Co-ordinates at the bottom right of the "hacked" page are for a street in St Petersburg:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=59.935903,30.321429&sll=55.950176,-3.187536&sspn=0.511334,1.234589&ie=UTF8&ll=59.936349,30.321708&spn=0.001787,0.004823&t=h&z=18&iwloc=lyrftr:h,16686579852811902287,59.936376,30.321021
27.11.09 - theme: Servicing the system
Periodically security system will be disconnected for conducting of planned works and data protection. During similar works can arise the breach out of danger from the external threat. Thus, all turning offs will bear random nature in accordance with the random diagram Delta-3-6- Oscar
Yay for bable fish!
<!--
Th!s S!T3 hä¢KeD ߥ VL@d69
M3M0RY l3@K C0nfirm3d
c0nfID3N7i@L d@t@ c3r7ifi3d
Unix D@7@ f0ld3R Sc-hack/2009
http://bit.ly/6M12tE
V0r0n v2.1.f
-->
Memory Leak Confirmed? Confidential Data Certified? Unix Data Folder Sc-hack/2009? (SC20K much?)
Not even hackers are THIS cheesy - MUST be a digital agency ;)
It's been up now for at least 21 hours - that's when they admitted it on the Twitter post anyway. If they can't clean up a "defacement" that they know about in less than 24 hours, they need to find themselves a new sysadmin and/or web host. Anyone with half a brain would have pulled the site and started a clean-up by now...
...which they haven't.
Anyway, it looks FAR too slick to be genuine.
SIlly web admin, everyone knows you need security! I can't talk for other programming languages, but in PHP I always do the following to prevent such attacks.
<?php
if(detect_hack() == true){ stop hack_attack() ; }
and for really important sites I include
if($shenanigans){$shenanigans = false;}
Anyone with experience of the games industry will tell you that the primary qualification for being a games industry marketeer is a Nathan Barley-esque level of twattishness so it's entirely plausible that this is an inept marketing stunt rather than the real thing.
I think that a stealthy man with high tech gear is hiding in someone's office reading emails. He got the one that said "The new security code for the website is 3192." I can't figure out how he sneaked past the guard with the clockwork bladder. Some spots in the corridors were lit so nobody could remain hidden for long.
"If it is a publicity stunt it's probably not the wisest that there has ever been - a hoax like this can panic users into believing there is a genuine security problem, and panic can lead internet users to make bad decisions," said Graham Cluley
Yeah, riiiight. My mother often panics when she hears a web server has been hacked, esp if they've gone to the trouble of using Flash. Usually she'll then e-mail her online banking credentials to everyone on the Interwebs.
I'll refrain from making the obvious pun on your last name.
Anyone remember the URL of the web page you could go to (posted about 10 years ago) that IIRC popped your browser window full-screen and looked like it was wiping the hard drive and installing a different OS?
Now THAT was good...
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